The benefits of quitting can be life-saving. Within 20 minutes after the last inhalation blood pressure drops down to normal. Within 8 to 48 hours carbon monoxide levels normalize. Over time lung tissue damage can be stabilized. The risk of dying from a smoking-related disease goes down each year of not smoking.
People use various methods to quit.
Among the most popular are nicotine gum and nicotine patches worn on the skin . These methods provide small amounts of nicotine that are released into the body. In this way smokers taper off their need for nicotine over time. This is called nicotine replacement therapy and people who use it have the highest rate of success in quitting and not smoking again. Even with nicotine replacement, only one in four smokers stops smoking.