A Typical Timeline Of
What To Expect When Quitting Smoking

How To Prepare Youself To Quit Smoking

Chances are that you've put a lot of thought into quitting smoking and it's probably not just a snap decision, although some may just make the sudden change to quit smoking. And if this is the first time you've attempted to quit, the timeline of what to expect and what's going to happen may be unknown to you, and maybe even a little bit daunting. 

The key to a successful quitting attempt is to be well prepared and know what to expect, the latter we explain in the next section of this blog. But for now, let's focus on how to prepare yourself. 

You're going to need some form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to manage your cravings for nicotine once you quit, and also to help avoid suffering from nicotine withdrawals. Your body has been used to having nicotine, so to suddenly cut it out will cause adverse effects which is why a form of NRT is always encouraged to be used. Whether that be traditional forms of NRT such as nicotine patches, nicotine gum, lozenges etc or the more popular and also proven effective tool, despite it not being recognised as an official prescribed form of NRT, and that is an e-cigarette with nicotine vape juice. 

Second thing to get you prepared is to set yourself some goals of what you want to achieve with quitting smoking and when you want to achieve them by. We've written a seperate blog looking at this if you wanted to learn more about how to set goals and tips to achieve them too.

And finally, remove all temptation to want to smoke tobacco products again. This can be as simple as keeping your previously used smoking peripherals, such as a lighter, out of site and it goes without saying, but don't keep any form of tobacco products in reach either. If you can't see it, you can't be tempted by it!

The Quitting Smoking Timeline - What To Expect

Stopping smoking is a process, it takes time. For some it may take less or more than others, but ultimately healthcare experts agree that our bodies go through some common stages of recovery and even withdrawal when we put down the last cigarette.

The recovery aspect applies to the negative side effects caused by the many harmful chemicals inhaled through cigarette smoke. The withdrawal is down to nicotine content – something that can be replaced with alternatives like vaping.

Using information from the NHS, we’ve put together the below estimated timeline of physical and metal changes you can expect when stopping smoking and abstaining from nicotine. Remember when reading this that supplementing your nicotine supply via vaping or NRTs may reduce the impact of some nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

The effects of nicotine will wear off – this can trigger cravings, try not to relapse – using alternatives can help manage these cravings.

8 hours in you can expect your body’s oxygen levels to be recovering, and the level of carbon monoxide in your blood will have halved.

After a full day without nicotine you might become a little irritable. Despite this you should notice your appetite start to increase.

By now all the carbon monoxide in your blood should have been flushed out. You may notice a chesty cough for a short while.

You might notice breathing has become easier, this is because by now, your bronchial tubes have relaxed. As a bonus, your energy levels should be increasing too.

Your circulation will have improved a lot, meaning blood is pumping to your heart and muscles much more easily. Brain fog may also begin easing off at this point too.

You should notice any coughing, wheezing, or other breathing difficulties will be improving as your lungs function increases by around 10%.

Your risk of a heart attack is now half as much as a current smoker’s.
And after 10 years, your risk of lung cancer is less than half what a smoker's is.

Keep An Eye On Your Vaping Behaviour

If you’ve chosen vaping as an alternative, you gain the added benefit of being able to move down through the strengths, however when doing so, make sure you do it in incremental stages. If you jump to far, say from an 18mg to a 6mg, you might not be getting enough nicotine to satisfy your cravings.

This means that you may run a higher risk of relapsing, or you may notice your vaping frequency increases quite a bit. Neither of these are positives, and so to avoid this you should take small steps – 18mg to 12mg, then 6mg and 3mg before transitioning to nicotine free e-liquid.

Don’t worry if you occasionally have to switch back to a higher strength liquid for a while during stressful times or other challenging situations where temptation runs high. This is perfectly normal so long as you are trending downwards. You can learn more about this process in our blog Stepping Down Nicotine Strengths.

An Example Of Your Vaping Journey

If you've chosen vaping as your form of NRT, and you've never vaped before, chances are you're not going to know what a typical vaping journey looks like, so we'll explain using examples to explain everything you need to know. 

Vaping is considered the end goal for a smoker who's quit, and it offers a lot of flexibility as well as putting you in total control of your nicotine intake which we've explain above. And the end goal would be to eventually become nicotine free or at least less nicotine dependant than when you first started vaping after quitting smoking. 

Let's say you were a heavy smoker of 20 cigarettes a day for this example. You're going to need to use a vape juice that has a high nicotine strength, such as 18mg Freebase or 20mg Nicotine Salts. This will provide you with a similar amount of nicotine from what you'd previously gotten from smoking cigarettes. 

And as our timeline above explained, gradually over time, your cravings and dependency for nicotine will begin to decrease, and this is when you can start trying out lower nicotine strength vape juices like 12mg Freebase or 10mg Nicotine Salts. There's no set time frame of when this may happen or when you need to do it by, it's whenever you're ready which is where the full control we mentioned comes in to play. 

And during the course of your quitting journey, you'll continue to lower the nicotine strength down further and further until you're either using a low nicotine strength like 6mg or even 3mg or achieving the ultimate goal...becoming nicotine free! 

If you did become nicotine free, you can either stop vaping completely, or if you wanted to continue to enjoy the great flavours from the vape juices, you can just use nicotine free vape juice. 

Give yourself plenty of time to achieve this, and don't rush things like we mentioned above. You're in total control and on the right steps to achieving your smoke free dreams!

Written By James Drake

James discovered the world of vaping 7 years ago as an alternative to smoking. Since then, he's become a dedicated enthusiast, experimenting with various e-cigarettes, flavours, and nicotine strengths.

With seven consecutive years of experience in the vape industry, James has traversed various roles, from managing retail stores to his current position as a digital content writer for LiQuid. His expertise spans across vaping devices, e-liquids, and comprehensive vaping information.

James is committed to sharing his in-depth knowledge to help both new and experienced users make informed decisions about their nicotine alternatives and his blogs are a platform for honest reviews, helpful tips, and discussions.