The Aga Khan University Hospital, Pakistan > Quit To Win

​What is the Quit 2 Win Challenge?

Smokers' FAQs

No matter what age you quit at, it can help increase your life expectancy, provided that you stop before irreversible damage to your organs, development of some form of cancer or any other serious disease. Within the first 24 hours of quitting you may notice your blood pressure and lung function improve. 

  • Three months after quitting your circulation and breathing will improve noticeably.
  • Five years after quitting, your risk of having a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.
  • 10 years after you quit, your risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker.​
When you quit smoking, your appetite and sense of taste can improve and you may want to eat more often.

However, you need to remember that you'll have more energy and you can be more active. You can put lose those extra pounds by adopting a more healthy lifestyle. ​
The best way to quit smoking is to be prepared and making a plan that will work for you. You should think about how quitting will improve your health and lifestyle. 

List down the top three reasons for quitting and put them in a place where you will see them every day - at your office desk. 

Choose a quit date and commit to it. 

Consider options on how you will deal with temption situations where you might be tempted into taking a drag; the most common being your friend offering you a cigarette. You could say: "No thanks, I don't smoke," or: "Haven't you heard, I've stopped smoking!"

If you need further support or help, you can visit the smoking cessation clinic at the AKUH, attending our counselling sessions or try our tools for intervention. ​
Before you consider smoking as a stress reliever, you need to understand that nicotine doesn't calm you down. It is a common misconception that smoking helps reduce stress. Actually, smoking increases the physical stress on the body and is far more harmful than the stress that you associate with quitting. 

The craving you get for cigarettes is what makes you stressed in the first place. When you smoke it makes you feel calmer. Quitting smoking helps reduce your stress levels and you will feel much healthier once you stop. At times, you may feel that smoking might reduce the stress, but remember, non-smokers tend to have a lower stress level as compared to smokers.

If you want to smoke a cigarette, wait for 10 minutes, the craving will pass. If the cravings persist, try to find something to keep yourself distracted. The cravings will pass eventually. ​

​Tools for Intervention

The AKUH ​Quit Smoking Clinic

The AKUH Quit Smoking Clinics are set up specifically to help you in quitting smoking. These clinics are held regularly at the pulmonology clinic. These clinics also provide smoking cessation counselling.

Smoker's Health Packages

This exclusive Smoker's Health Package includes multiple tests along with consultation by our family physicians to help assess your health.

Hypnosis Clinic

This includes consultation with our Hypnosis specialists to help you quit smoking. 


Quit Smoking Tool Kit

  1. Take deep breaths
  2. Distract yourself
  3. Avoid the company of smokers
  4. Keep your mouth busy by chewing gum
  5. Hold a straw in your hand as you would hold a cigarette
  6. Use the AKUH Quit 2 Win calendar to keep track of your progress​​​
  7. ​​Refer to the AKUH How to Quit Smoking ​Guide: English | Urdu​

​Facts​ about Smoking

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​​Quitting Smoking Timeline

Within 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your heart rate begins to drop to a normal level.​

Two hours after your last cigarette, your heart rate and blood pressure come close to normal levels again. Your blood circulation also starts to improve. The tips of your fingers and toes may start to feel warm as well.

You may also experience some nicotine withdrawal symptoms around this time. Early withdrawal symptoms include:

  • Intense cravings
  • Anxiety, tension, or frustration
  • Drowsiness or trouble sleeping
  • Increased appetite​
Carbon monoxide is toxic to the body at high levels. It is released from burning tobacco and inhaled as part of cigarette smoke. Carbon monoxide bonds very well to blood cells, so high levels of the gas can prevent the cells from bonding with oxygen. The lack of oxygen in the blood often causes serious heart conditions and other health problems.

12 hours after you quit smoking, the carbon monoxide in your body decreases to lower levels, leading to an increase in the amount of oxygen in your blood. ​
The risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) for smokers is 70 percent higher than for nonsmokers.

Just one full day after you quit smoking, the risk of CAD begins to reduce. Your risk of having a heart attack also starts to decline. ​
Once you quit smoking for 48 hours, your nerve endings start to regrow, and your ability to smell and taste improve. ​

Three days after you quit smoking, the nicotine will be completely out of your body. This means that the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal may peak around this time. You might experience some physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms, including:

  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Cramps
  • Sweating
  • Anxiety
  • Irritability
  • Depression

This is when quitting smoking can become especially difficult. If you are having difficulty controling the craving, you can consult our experts at the 'Quit Smoking Clinic'.​

After one month without cigarettes, the cilia inside your lungs begins to repair. The cilia are the tiny, hair-like structures that push mucus out of the lungs. Once the cilia are able to do their job efficiently, they can fight off infection and clear the lungs more easily. With properly functioning lungs, your cough and shortness of breath will continue to decrease dramatically.

Your withdrawal symptoms will also go away completely within nine months after quitting.

The length of time it takes varies depending on how long and how often you smoked before quitting.​

A wide array of toxic substances is released in the burning of tobacco.

Over time, these substances cause your blood vessels to narrow, which increases your risk of having a stroke. After five to fifteen years of not smoking, your risk of having a stroke is the same as that of a nonsmoker.​

Smokers are at higher risk to a long list of cancers. These include:

  • Oral Cancer
  • Throat Cancer
  • Esophageal Cancer
  • Lung Cancer
  • Kidney Cancer
  • Pancreatic Cancer


Out of these, lung cancer is the most common form of cancer that affects smokers. Smoking accounts for 90 percent of lung cancer deaths worldwide.

Ten years after quitting, your risk of getting cancers decreases.​

The long-term benefits of quitting are significant and can increase life expectancy.

Quit today, and live a healthy life with happy heart and lungs, allowing you to stay active and feel great.​