These hidden perks might motivate you to quit for good
Quitting smoking is hard and it often takes multiple attempts to quit for good. On the bright side, the benefits are enormous, extending lifespan and lowering health risks for heart disease, cancer, breathing issues, stroke and other conditions.
If living longer and avoiding serious health conditions aren’t enough, here are five other benefits of quitting that may help you not want to pick up a cigarette again.
- Money Saved: If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, quitting smoking would save you over $2,000 a year. With that money you could buy a new MacBook Pro, a 65-inch TV or a trip to the Bahamas.
- Time Saved: On average it takes 6 minutes to smoke a cigarette. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, that is 2 hours a day and 750 hours a year. That is the average amount of hours it takes to learn to play the guitar at a beginner level or learn to speak a new language.
- Better Dating Life: Not smoking expands your dating pool. Dating websites, including eHarmony, report that up to 81% of their members say they would not date a heavy smoker.
- Better Breathing: After only three days of not smoking, your bronchial tubes relax and it becomes easier to breathe. This will make physical activities like sports and workouts more enjoyable.
- Better Sex Life: A small study of men who successfully quit smoking showed that of the participants with erectile dysfunction, three in four no longer had erectile problems.*
* - British Journal of Urology International, 2011