Your Body's Response to Quitting Smoking

By Molly Skubak

Did you know that cigarette smoke contains more than 2,000 toxic chemicals? Over time, these harmful toxins wreak immense havoc on the body, laying the groundwork for numerous health risks, such as emphysema and stomach cancer, that shorten the body’s lifespan and hasten the body’s natural aging process.

Fortunately, the likelihood of many of these risks are reduced or eliminated entirely after quitting smoking, regardless of an individual’s smoking history. With the infographic below,UPMC’s smoking cessation expert, Timothy Cline, Ph.D., senior director of UPMC Health Plan, outlines the body’s response to smoking cessation.