Are you fed up with relying on cigarettes and want to quit and get healthy again? Here’s how to detox nicotine from your body.
So can you detox nicotine from your body?- Yes! Of course, you can. Maintaining a healthy diet that is rich in fiber and antioxidants like leafy greens and berries and making sure you drink a lot of water will help discard the toxins from your body. Along with this, you should also avoid caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. Exercising regularly and maintaining an overall active lifestyle are also great ways to help you along the process of detoxing your body off of nicotine. Just like being active is important, making sure you get enough rest is equally crucial. This is why you should make sure you maintain a healthy sleep schedule and quality sleep.
You should also make an effort to steer clear of passive smoking that is inhaling second-hand smoke from a cigarette. Pollution can also cause major hindrances in the process of detoxing your body of nicotine. It can contribute to the weakened state of your lungs and make things worse than before. You can keep a watch on the pollution levels using Air Quality Index (AQI) checkers available online.
Keeping your home clean and dust-free by cleaning and dusting regularly is another way of avoiding unnecessary dust inhalation. You can practice some breathing exercises in a clean dust-free surrounding. This will help your lungs gain their strength back. Not to mention that these breathing exercises will also help you quickly curb the strong nicotine cravings which you may get now and then.
Table of Contents
5 Tips To Help Detox Nicotine Faster
- Drink lots of water
- Avoid Caffeine soda or Alcohol
- Exercise or keep yourself active
- Take a diet that is rich in fiber and nutrients
- Most importantly keep away from smoke and make it a goal
Foods That Help Detox Nicotine From Your Body
| Foods | Benefits |
| Cruciferae-based vegetables | Chlorophyll rich veggies help detoxify the blood |
| Apples | Has flavonoids, vitamins, and antioxidants. Helps to maintain a healthy respiratory system |
| Avocados | Helps the body to produce glutathione |
| Walnuts | Full of omega-3 fatty acids, the amino acid arginine, and glutathione. |
| Green tea | Full of antioxidants called catechins. Helps in boosting and maintaining lung health |
| Turmeric | Has healing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. |
| Ginger & Garlic | Ginger has proven to be anti-inflammatory and Garlic has a compound called allicin that helps activate the liver enzymes. |
All of the above support liver function and help flush out the toxins and the nicotine from your system.
Guide To Clear Nicotine From Your Body
7 Ways To Help Detox Nicotine From Your Body
Drink Plenty Of Water
Water can be a great way of helping your body flush out chemicals and toxins. The longer you have smoked will be proportionate to the amount of time your body will require to flush the nicotine out. Try to consume 6 to 12 glasses of water per day. This will also boost the levels of energy, which will come in handy especially if you were relying on cigarettes to remain alert.
Eat A Antioxidants Rich Diet
Various researches have shown that the consumption of fruits and leafy green veggies helps the lungs protect themselves against the increasing pollution and more importantly against the damages that smoking causes to them. In addition to this, one can take some vitamin C supplements and consume colorful fruits like green, orange, red, yellow, etc, and veggies rich in polyphenols.
Regular Exercise
Physical activities like exercise help in the improvement of cell regeneration and blood circulation. This aids and promotes the process of releasing toxins from the body via sweat. The capacity of the lungs reduces when a person smokes, exercise will also help increase your lung capacity.
Avoid Secondhand Smoke
Passive smoking can be just as dangerous as the act of active smoking. By inhaling the smoke which comes from a cigarette, you are doing tremendous amounts of harm to your lungs. The hundreds of toxins that are being inhaled by you while passive smoking can cause various severe medical conditions and diseases including cancer and chronic lung diseases.
Steer Clear Of Pollution
Staying far away from pollutants that can pose harm is very important. You can use the online tool to check the local Air Quality Index. If the index is on the higher side- which means that the air pollution is higher and can cause more harm to one’s health, then you can choose to stay indoors. Make sure that the air quality indoors is also healthy by cleaning, vacuuming on the regular. You can also avoid aerosol sprays and opt for fragrance-free products.
Practice Deep Breathing
Cigarette cravings are usually forceful and fast. They start off strong for the first 3 to 5 minutes and then the intensity starts to fade. The key is to remain calm and not panic during an intense urge to smoke. You can take a few minutes to focus on your breathing. This will help the craving fade out with ease.
Deep breathing can be a fast and effective method to stop a negative thought or urge which is on the verge of spinning out of your control. You need to act swiftly and effectively when a craving strikes.
Sleep More
One of the most underrated activities in our day-to-day life is sleep. We fail to recognize the importance and the role it plays in our well-being. When a smoker quits smoking, they face withdrawal from the nicotine and around 7000 other chemicals that had become a daily routine. No matter how dangerous, taking away the pleasure which these chemicals provided can cause stress and exhaustion. This can either make you excessively sleepy or make it difficult for you to fall asleep.
Either way, you need to get a good amount of sleep every day, without any exceptions. If you are sleepy throughout the day, you can take power naps and resort to going to bed earlier than usual. Whereas, if you are having difficulty in falling asleep, you can try breathing exercises and other techniques to get a good night’s sleep.
Ways To Clear Nicotine From Your Body?
The ideal way of clearing out all the nicotine from your body is to stop and avoid all the by-products of tobacco. In this manner, your system will concentrate on fleshing out the existing tobacco from your body.
The things that you can do in order to speed this process up are;
- Eat foods that are rich in antioxidants: Antioxidant-rich food can help the body in many ways, one of them is speeding up the metabolism rate. Some examples are carrots and oranges. These contain fiber which also helps with the process of flushing out the nicotine and toxins from the body.
- Drink water: Water can help the nicotine flush out of the body in the form of urine.
- Exercise: Physical activities like exercise and workouts will increase the metabolism rate of the body which will help the nicotine burn out quicker. This will help the nicotine flush out of the body in the form of sweat.
How Long Will It Take To Detox From Smoking?
So what happens after the last cigarette burns out?
- Your blood pressure and heart rate will fall within the first 24 hours.
- You will see improvement in your circulation and lung function within the next 2 to 3 weeks.
- Within one year your risk of heart disease will reduce up to 50% and your lung functions will go back to normal.
- Your risk of having a stroke or developing most types of cancers will dramatically drop within the next 5 years.
- Your risk of heart disease will be the same as a nonsmoker after 15 years.
Do Lungs Recover From Smoking Damage?
Although full recovery of your lungs from acute bronchitis and pneumonia is possible, smoking can cause chronic injury to them which can cause irreversible damage.
- This can cause two lung conditions;
- Chronic bronchitis: the airways that lead to the air sacs get inflamed.
- Emphysema: the air sacs in the lungs get damaged.
Both of the above-mentioned conditions fall under chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD, over time, causes damage to the air sacs in the lungs that is irreversible. These sacs are responsible for carrying oxygen to the other parts of the body.
More About Nicotine Detoxification
How Long Will Nicotine Last?
Nicotine gets absorbed into the bloodstream every time you chew or smoke tobacco or even breathe in the smoke from a cigarette. The liver breaks down most of the nicotine from there to convert it into cotinine which is directly proportionate to the quantity of nicotine you consume. Your kidneys eventually eliminate these substances from your body as urine.
Your body can be detected with cotinine, which is nicotine’s main breakdown product, for up to three months after consumption. The way you consume it and the frequency of consumption will determine how long it stays present in your system. We have discussed how nicotine can be detected in your hair, urine, and saliva.
How Long Do Traces Of Nicotine Be Present In Your Blood?
Although nicotine stays in the bloodstream for 2-4 days, cotinine can be found in the bloodstream for up to 12 days. Qualitative and quantitative tests can be done to determine whether nicotine is present in your blood and if yes then how much of it is present, respectively. These tests are helpful for determining the presence of nicotine, cotinine, and anabasine, which is another breakdown product of nicotine. It is common to get false positives while blood testing for nicotine.
The compound called thiocyanate present in the blood causes these false positives. This compound is found in various foods like cabbage, broccoli, and also in some medicines.
What Factors Will Influence How Long Nicotine Stays In Your System?
There are some general guidelines given for how long nicotine stays in the system, but this varies from one person to another. Totonicotine may wash out of your system quicker or may take longer, all depending on your circumstances.
At what frequency do you smoke?
Smokers are usually divided into three categories;
- Heavy smokers: people who smoke continuously and consistently on a weekly or daily basis.
- Moderate smokers: people who smoke 3 to 4 times a week
- Light smokers: people who smoke once or twice a week
If you are a light smoker, nicotine should leave your system within 3 to 4 days after smoking.
But if you are a heavy smoker, the nicotine in your system can be detected for 10 months to a year after the last time you smoke.
Your everyday lifestyle and genes, Various factors can affect the time taken by your body to metabolize and dispose of the nicotine present. Some of those factors are;
- Age: the higher the age of a person, the longer their body takes to dispose of the nicotine.
- Hormones: Sex hormones play a huge role in the process of metabolization of nicotine by the body. Women who are taking estrogen or are pregnant will find that their bodies metabolize nicotine faster than men.
- Genes: Various researches and trusted sources have suggested that people of Caucasian and Hispanic descent metabolize nicotine quicker than African-Americans and Asian-Americans.
- Liver Functions: Different people metabolize nicotine in different ways and at different speeds depending on the enzymes present in their liver.
Are There Side Effects When Nicotine Leaves Your System?
The primary addictive component of cigarettes is nicotine. Similar to cocaine or coffee, nicotine can act as a stimulant if consumed in smaller amounts. Whereas, it can also become a relaxant when ingested in larger quantities. It can also help in decreasing tension and anxiety levels. Completely quitting or consuming nicotine in smaller doses can cause withdrawal symptoms like
- Intense craving for tobacco
- Spike in hunger
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Insomnia
- Depressive thoughts
- Anxious thoughts
- Irritable nature
- Difficulty in the ability to focus on simple tasks
- Fatigue
