Today is the day

There are always health and financial benefits to quitting smoking, but quitting now means you can:

1. Reduce the likelihood of dangerous complications. Smoking damages your lungs and immune system putting you at more risk of life threatening complications if you get COVID-19. It makes recovery from an operation harder and longer for you which also impacts the NHS.

2. Reduce your risk of other diseases caused by smoking such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack, emphysema, bronchitis and stroke. Quitting is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others, and reduce your need to use the NHS.

3. Stopping smoking allows your body to repair itself – after 8 hours oxygen levels return to normal, after 2 days, your lungs start clearing out smoking debris, after 3 days breathing becomes easier and within weeks, your heart attack risk begins to drop. Watch this film which explains how quickly things happen.

4. Protect the health of others. Exposure to secondhand smoke also increases the risk of complications from respiratory infections and, in adults, heart attacks, strokes and cancer. It's important to protect others from tobacco smoke.

5. Save money. A couple who smoke 20 cigarettes a day could save enough for all their food shopping, for a holiday, or a little luxury treat they could never usually afford.