Within 20 minutes after smoking your heart rate and blood pressure drop and within 12 hours the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. Tomorrow is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, a day encouraging people to make the decision to quit smoking. Quitline Iowa offers smokers resources to make a quit plan and speak with trained quit coaches.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, after two to three months of being tobacco free, your circulation improves and lung function increases. A year after a person stops using tobacco, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half of a smoker’s.

Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit QuitlineIowa.org to enroll in a program to quit smoking.