Yearly, it kills 12,000 Ontarians and 40,000 Canadians. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer for both men and women. Women who smoke during pregnancy have an increased risk of delivering a low birthweight baby. Secondhand smoke contains more than 40 chemicals known to cause cancer and is one of the leading causes of preventable death in Ontario. If you stop smoking before the onset of irreversible heart and circulatory disease, your body will begin to repair itself.
Repair begins almost immediately.
Within 20 minutes of quitting, your blood pressure, pulse, and the temperature in your hands and feet all return to normal. Within 24 hours of quitting, your chance of a heart attack decreases. Within 72 hours of quitting, your lung capacity will have increased and you'll find it's easier to breathe. Within one year of quitting, your risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker. Within two years of quitting, your heart attack risk drops to near normal.