So you've decided to stop smoking and you are asking yourself, "How quickly will I feel better, now that I've stopped smoking" or "How quickly will I notice a change in my cough, now that I've stopped smoking?". Well there's this idea floated out there, that your cough, phelgm (spit), and shortness of breath will worsen immediately after smoking cessation efforts. But, is this fact or fiction?
In the European Respiratory Journal [2010;35(6):1249-55] a study out of Switzerland by Etter speaks to this idea. It is entitled, "Short-term change in self-reported COPD symptoms after smoking cessation in an internet sample." I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say, they looked at lots of people and followed up with lots of people to get their information. Okay, so what about the results?
For those who had quit smoking at the 30 day follow up, there was a tremendous decrease in reported cough prevalency. It went from 51.6% down to 15.5%. Those reporting morning wake-up cough with phelgm expectoration (aka: a productive cough), also decreased from 47.6% to 19.4%. Those reporting shortness of breath after climbing stairs or a brisk walk fell from 75% to 48.4%. Finally, those who had audible wheezing when they breathed also fell from 33.7% to 10.3%. All were statistically significant changes.
What about those who didn't change their smoking habits? Well, their reported symptoms occurred in roughly the same percentages as their baseline survey. So obviously, smoking cessation did cause immediate and perceptible benefits to occur in this rather large studied internet population.
I'm always a little spooked by studies generated around self-reporting surveys, especially those on the internet, however, I feel this had such a large group of participants, that most of the bias was washed out, although, you can never be 100% certain. Regardless though, the results and trends in this study certainly point toward an immediate beneficial physiological responses to quitting smoking. These are the kinds of responses that add to not only your overall health, but your lifestyle as well. If for no other reason than experiencing less dyspnea (shortness of breath) upon exertion.
So don't believe the myth that quitting tobacco will lead to a poor physical response by your body. On the contrary, your body will enjoy many benefits, both long term and as this study shows, short term.
