You won’t turn into Doctor Who – but if you want to stop smoking, there’s another great incentive which has come as a huge surprise even to scientists.
Did you know that new research has shown that your lungs have an almost magical ability to repair some of the damage caused by smoking?
It’s always been thought that the mutations caused by smoking – the mutations that lead to lung cancer – were permanent, even if you stopped.
So while stopping was always good because you wouldn’t cause any more damage, it was assumed that nothing would reverse the damage already done.
BUT – this new research has found that a small number of cells remain unscathed, as though they’ve been waiting in a nuclear bunker, just waiting for the moment when it was safe to come out again. And when someone stops smoking, and the bombing of the cells stop, these unscathed cells start to grow, and to replace some of the damaged cells.
And what was even more astonishing – the research also found these regenerating cells were present even in the lungs of people who had been smoking for years.
So when you quit smoking, not only do you stop doing any more damage to your lungs. You also open the door to those regenerating cells that have been just waiting for this moment, so they can get out and start repairing the damage.
In people who stop smoking, up to 40% of their cells looked just like those from people who had never smoked!
About 47,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year.
Around 75% of them are caused by smoking.
BUT if you stop smoking, you cut the risk of lung cancer almost from the day you stop.
Ways to stop smoking (in no particular order)
Read Allen Carr’s book ‘Easy Way to Stop Smoking’
Visit the NHS Stop Smoking page for free Stop Smoking support
Have a look at the Cancer research website for help and support to stop smoking
Hypnotherapy can help you to stop smoking easily and naturally, without cravings or weight gain. It often takes just one session.
Here’s my page for Stop Smoking
