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May 6, 2008 8:32 pm US/Mountain
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There's Still Hope For Those Who Quit Smoking Late
DENVER (CBS4) ―
A new study finds the harmful effects of smoking on a woman's heart drops by half within five years of quitting. Within 20 years, it's as if the person never smoked.
Gretchen Harris gave up cigarettes a few weeks ago and she's determined to stick with it.
"I still feel quite tempted now and everyday I have to say to myself, 'No, you cannot have a cigarette,'" Harris said.
But she worries what decades of smoking did to her body.
"I've had a lot of cancer in my family too, so that's really my primary concern, I guess," she said.
A study of more than 100,000 women has some good news. The damage from years of smoking can be reversed. Within five years of kicking the habit, the risk of a heart attack drops in half. The risk of lung cancer drops by more than 20 percent.
"The body has a system of reconstituting itself, of healing itself, which is really very good," said Dr. Mary O'Sullivan, a lung specialist.
Give the body more time away from the cigarettes the better. Within 20 years of staying quit, most, if not all, harmful effects of smoking are gone.
"It was as if they had never smoked," O'Sullivan said.
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