Within 20 minutes after a person quits smoking, the body begins to change for the better. Reader's Digest published the following list of beneficial changes that occur at specified times after a smoker quits. Twenty minutes: Blood pressure and pulse rate drop to normal; temperature of hands and feet increases to normal. Eight hours: Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal; oxygen level in blood increases to normal. Twenty-four hours: Possibility of heart attack decreases. Forty-eight hours: Nerve endings start regrowing; ability to taste and smell is enhanced; walking becomes easier. Two weeks to three months: Circulation improves; lung function increases up to 30 percent. One to nine months: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease; lung cilia regrow. One year: Risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
Awake! October 22, 1996
http://www.moonchild.ch/Library/briefs/ASmoking.html