What Happens When You Quit Smoking?

Transcript

Your last cigarette isn't the end of the story. It's the start of a repair schedule. First, your blood. Smoke slips carbon monoxide into your red blood cells, where it grabs the seats meant for oxygen. Within about twelve hours, it's gone, and oxygen gets its seats back. Over the next weeks, the tiny hairs lining your airways start sweeping again.

The slowest repair takes years, and it happens in your DNA. In a smoker, nine in ten airway cells carry smoke damage in their DNA. A few escaped untouched, and once the smoke stops, they multiply, until ex-smokers carry four times as many healthy cells as smokers. Your lungs kept a few clean cells in reserve. All it takes is for you to stop.