Found this tool that calculates how much smoking will reduce your lifespan.

I love interactive tools. They’re like toys. I tested it out on my mother’s smoking history and it was accurate… She lost about 20 years, and that’s about right.

See below for a set of facts about the benefits that immediately start accruing when you stop smoking.

For all the drugs I’ve bought legally over counters and ingested, I’m glad I’ve somehow escaped nicotine. The consequences are just so damaging.

An interesting read for those who want to quit: Glassbottom’s quit-smoking journal on Opiate Detox Recovery, one of my favorite recovery sites. On the first page of this journal the author, Glassbottom, says of a previous time having quit,

For me, quitting cigs changed my entire perception of time. This was frankly the most enjoyable byproduct of quitting. I hadn’t realized that every activity, every commitment, every damn thing that I did during my day was some how couched in the thought of “when is my next cigarette” If I was writing a paper for school, “How many pages till I go smoke a cigarette.” If I was watching a movie that I enjoyed, “When will this movie be over so I can go smoke a cigarette.” When it was time to eat, “I can’t wait till I’m done so I can smoke a cigarette.” … When we smoke a pack a day, that’s 20 cigarettes. Essentially we don’t go for much longer than a half an hour without a smoke. If two packs, then 15 minutes. Now consider how much of that half hour/fifteen minutes of non smoking time that the thought of the next cigarette crosses our minds. Yep, it’s an obsession.

This gave me insight into my mother’s addiction. Glassbottom wrote that the pride of quitting smoking was “just as great as dope in many ways,” though he said that, for him, opioids were “way harder to deal with” than nicotine. But knowing my mother, I don’t think it was that way for her, and I think it may not be for some others. Nicotine can truly be a “drug of choice”—or, as some on ODR might say, a “drug of no-choice.”

What happens when you quit smoking

(Source: Cleveland Clinic)

After 20 minutes

You stop polluting the air
Your blood pressure and pulse decrease
The temperature of your hands and feet increases

After 8 hours
The carbon monoxide level in your blood returns to normal
Oxygen levels in your blood increase

After 24 hours
Your risk of heart attack decreases

After 48 hours
Nerve endings adjust to the absence of nicotine
Your ability to taste and smell begins to return

After 2 weeks to 3 months
Your circulation improves
Your exercise tolerance improves

After 1 to 9 months
Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease
Your overall energy level increases

After 1 year
Your risk of heart disease decreases to half that of a current smoker

After 5 to 15 years
Your risk of stroke is reduced to that of people who have never smoked

After 10 years
Your risk of dying from lung cancer drops to almost the same rate as a lifelong NON-smoker.
You decrease the incidence of other cancers – of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas

After 15 years
Your risk of heart disease is reduced to that of people who have never smoked