What Happens After 15 Days of Not Smoking?

Author
by MARC CHASE 

Medically Reviewed by
Brenda Spriggs, MD, MPH, MBA

Most of us are aware of the harmful effects smoking has on the body. Inhaling tobacco smoke exposes the lungs — and ultimately all body tissues — to more than 7,000 chemicals — many of these harmful substances which can cause inflammation and damage in the body. But many are unaware of what happens to your body after you quit.

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Even though most smokers understand the related health risks, quitting remains a difficult task, since the nicotine in tobacco is an addictive substance, and because the act of smoking can be a deeply ingrained habit that's difficult to break.

Anyone who smokes is advised to stop, as smoking is associated with serious long-term health problems, including cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke. But stopping smoking can also benefit your health immediately, with changes that occur within the first 15 days of going tobacco-free.

Read more: How Evan S. Used LIVESTRONG.COM's MyQuit to Kick His Smoking Habit & Lost 45 Pounds

The First 24 Hours

If you smoke, your lungs get exposed to a multitude of unhealthy substances including tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide, and these chemicals have direct effects on your blood pressure and pulse. Just 20 minutes after your last cigarette, blood pressure and heart rate start to return to healthy levels.

And within the first 24 hours, levels of carbon monoxide in your airways return to normal levels, and blood levels of carbon monoxide drop, allowing your blood oxygen to return to normal. Also, within the first day, blood circulation to the extremities begins to improve.

The Second Day

Within 48 hours of quitting, your sense of smell and taste can start to improve, and you may no longer have smoker's breath (everyone around you will be happy about that). Lung function will also start to improve. Soon after stopping smoking, the cilia, which are are broom-like hairs that clear toxins out of the lungs, start to work better.

After 48 hours of being tobacco-free, nicotine has left your body. While this is a healthful change, it may feel like a minor setback, as the reduction of nicotine in your body causes withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea or headaches. But keep pushing on; the continued benefits will be well worth it.

Within 15 Days

After about 15 days, the circulation of blood improves, enhancing removal of waste products and more effectively providing nutrients and oxygen to the body cells. Withdrawal symptoms should be less by this time, and the stains on your fingers and teeth may be improved. Your body, clothing and hair should no longer smell like smoke.

Also, lung function and your lungs' capacity to hold air improves. Although lung mucus production increases for the first few tobacco-free weeks, as the body works harder to clear the airways, by the start of the third week, there should be a drop in mucus production, fewer coughing fits and a reduced risk of respiratory infections. You might be breathing more easily and notice you're not as winded when you exercise.

Beyond 15 Days

The benefits of smoking cessation continue far beyond the first few weeks. By the third month, lung function can improve as much as 30 percent, according to a January 2011 article in JAMA Journal of Ethics.

Over the next several months, lung cilia function is restored, enhancing the ability of the respiratory system to clear out waste and toxins, and any shortness of breath symptoms may continue to improve.

By the end of the first year of being tobacco-free, the risk of heart disease is cut in half, and the risk of cancer and other tobacco-related chronic disease continues to drop. After 10 years of abstinence, the rate of lung cancer falls 50 to 60 percent, and 10 to 15 years after stopping smoking, the risk of heart attack and stroke declines to the incidence seen in non-smokers.

Read more: Top 10 Ways to Quit Smoking

Ready to Quit Smoking?

If you're ready to stop smoking, work with your doctor to discuss a plan of action, which may include individual or group support, behavioral training or medications. Some people successfully quit on their own. But many people relapse after trying to quit.

Don't let this deter you, though, as relapse is a normal and expected part of the behavior change process. Take steps to figure out what you need in order to reduce the risk of relapse, and try again. Getting the support you need, particularly within the first few weeks of quitting, can help avoid a relapse. If you're ready to quit and are interested in medications or behavioral support from your health care team, contact your doctor.

Additionally, LIVESTRONG.COM's MyQuit app has helped thousands of people quit smoking. If you're looking for motivation to win your battle against nicotine, find inspiration in these LIVESTRONG.COM members' stories of how they successfully quit smoking using the MyQuit app. Reach out to the MyQuit community for ongoing support and motivation from people who know firsthand how difficult it is to quit.

Reviewed by Kay Peck, MPH RD

For further information log on website :
https://www.livestrong.com/article/210803-what-happens-after-15-days-of-not-smoking/

Effect of filler load on the curing behavior and mechanical and thermal performance of wood flour filled thermoset composites

Article · October 2017 with 92 Reads

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.036

• 

  Omid Nabinejad

  • 13.16
  • Curtin University-
• 

  Sujan Debnath

  • 21.17
  • Curtin University Sarawak
• 

  Muhammad Ekhlasur Rahman

  • 22.12
  • Curtin University Sarawak
• 

  Ian J. Davies

  • 36.62
  • Curtin University

Abstract

The mechanical and thermal performance of wood flour composites (WFCs) containing thermoset resin is known to be strongly dependent on the curing reaction. In the present work, WFCs were prepared based on either unsaturated polyester, vinylester or epoxy reinforced by oil palm shell (OPS) flour with a major focus being the preferential reaction of the curing initiator with the natural fiber cells instead of the thermoset resin. Increasing the loading of OPS was found to delay the curing reaction of all thermoset resins by decreasing the peak exothermic temperature and increasing the time to peak. Selecting a suitable surface treatment for the OPS was observed to play a significant effect on the rate of curing reaction. Thermal degradation (in an inert atmosphere) and linear shrinkage of the WFCs was found to decrease with an increase in filler load. In terms of the mechanical performance, the flexural modulus increased steadily with filler load whereas the tensile modulus reached its maximum value of 2.74 GPa (30% improvement) at a filler content of 23 wt% for the hot alkali treated OPS reinforced polyester composite. Increasing the filler load was found to decrease the tensile strength whilst the flexural strength experienced an optimal value of 70.6 MPa (28% improvement) for a filler load of 9 wt%. Furthermore, the OPS filler exhibited improved interfacial bonding with the polyester matrix when compared to vinylester and epoxy.

Effect of filler load on the curing behavior and mechanical and thermal performance of wood flour filled thermoset composites (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318320994_Effect_of_filler_load_on_the_curing_behavior_and_mechanical_and_thermal_performance_of_wood_flour_filled_thermoset_composites [accessed Jan 04 2018].
For further details log on website :
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318320994_Effect_of_filler_load_on_the_curing_behavior_and_mechanical_and_thermal_performance_of_wood_flour_filled_thermoset_composites?ev=pubitem-pro_rel_pub&_sg=drHV7rSqpRZllp3i_l0EgnF8NIxvW-NdhJEmO6qmVTwcI7QKPYVoAdsC66kjVIS69PtlmLAq9OvANaWbl_1nU5xld_0mhrv1BIimKpUoFS-W

Study of Effect of Surface Treatment on Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites

Article · December 2017 with 82 Reads

DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2017.02.158

• 

  Jai Inder Preet Singh

  • 1.72
  • Punjab Technical University
• 

  Vikas Dhawan

  • 4.96
  • Chandigarh Group of Colleges
• 

  Singh Sehijpal

  • 21.9
  • Guru Nanak Dev Engg College Ludhiana affiliated to Punjab Technical University
• 

  Kapil Jangid

Abstract

The growing environmental concerns, global warming, waste management issues, dwindling fossil resources, and rising oil prices have resulted in increase in research for newermaterials that are friendly to our health and environment. Green products are being increasingly promoted for sustainable development.The present research is an attempt to develop and study the mechanical properties of the natural fiber reinforced polymer based composites which are partially biodegradable.In this study different natural fibers like jute, banana and sisal have beenused as reinforcement and epoxy as matrix to make the natural fiber reinforced polymer unidirectional composite with the help of hand layup and compression molding.Mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength for treated and non treated natural fiber reinforced polymerunidirectional composites have been investigated and compared.It has been found that tensile strength of the composites has improved due to incorporation of natural fibers topolymers.Further a considerable increase in tensile and flexural strength has been observed with the use of surface treatment method;howeverimpact strength has been tremendouslydecreased with the use of surface treatment. It has also been found that the jute reinforced polymer composite shows the highest tensile strength.

Study of Effect of Surface Treatment on Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316569623_Study_of_Effect_of_Surface_Treatment_on_Mechanical_Properties_of_Natural_Fiber_Reinforced_Composites [accessed Jan 04 2018].

For further details log on website :
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316569623_Study_of_Effect_of_Surface_Treatment_on_Mechanical_Properties_of_Natural_Fiber_Reinforced_Composites

Next generation wood-based materials: From ideas, to research, to resource-efficient products

Author

• Rupert Wimmer

  • 44.89
  • University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna
• 

  Norbert Mundigler

Abstract

The starting point for any innovation could be either a technology push or an existing market pull. For successful innovations a technological invention has to obtain approval by the marketplace, by technological institutions and also by society. Three criteria need to be met: (1) technological applicability, (2) economic profitability, and (3) social acceptability. The key technology model is seen as an efficient and effective way to achieve innovative results through research and development. An example on innovative industry-drive product development is given, addressing also resource efficient use of biomass. Materials using natural fibers include particle boards, fiberboards, oriented strand boards, a number of engineered wood products, and more recently polymers filled / reinforced with wood and other natural fibers. The latter are known but not limited to WPC (wood-plastic/polymer-composites). Many of these materials have fully developed industrial processes, such as the classical wood-based composite technologies, then injection molding, profile extrusion, pultrusion, or compression molding of non-woven mats. While virgin materials, i.e. wood, experience increasing prices and therefore reduced availability, a vast amount of cellulose-based waste materials have currently low-value usage. Multi-coated paper products, as used for e.g. milk and beverage packages, or other laminated waste paper fractions, need to be separately collected due to higher polymer contents. It is shown that products can be developed with these waste resources, with wood particles added, using advanced extrusion technology.

Discover the world's research

For further details log on website:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260303435_Next_generation_wood-based_materials_From_ideas_to_research_to_resource-efficient_products

Next-generation wood pushes to greater heights

At 29.5 metres and clad in charred western red cedar, the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, B.C., is the tallest contemporary wood structure of its type in North America.

NATURALLY:WOOD

JENNIFER LEWINGTON

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

PUBLISHED JANUARY 26, 2015UPDATED MARCH 25, 2017

By design, a new mid-rise building in Prince George, B.C., breaks many conventions of commercial construction.

At 29.5 metres, its height alone makes the Wood Innovation and Design Centre the highest contemporary wood structure of its type in North America – a record soon to be broken by others. The $25.1-million centre also stands out for its embrace of engineered wood: thick panels, columns and beams of so-called mass timber, sturdier and more fire-resistant than lightweight wood frame construction.

Built as a showcase for wood's potential in mid-rise and taller buildings, the provincial government-owned centre houses academic and research programs at the University of Northern British Columbia and corporate offices. Its opening last fall comes as architects and others look to push the traditional boundaries of wood as a structural material in commercial construction.  See earlier story: Six-storey wood buildings 'a game-changer.'

"The building is a very important milestone and stepping stone as we work our way higher into the taller wood building arena," says Michael Green, principal of Vancouver-based Michael Green Architecture and the centre's architect. He used engineered wood products for the centre's stair and elevator core and, for the floor assembly, eliminated a layer of concrete typically needed to muffle sound.

"The hardest part of this process of introducing a new way to build is not the engineering; it is shifting the public's perception of what is possible," adds Mr. Green, co-author of the 2012 industry-financed study, The Case for Tall Wood Buildings.

Climate change is one factor behind the rise of wood as a competitive rival to concrete and steel, the typical energy-consuming components of taller buildings. Mr. Green likens the shift to adopting healthy eating habits.

"What we want to do is reduce the things that we know aren't good for us, like steel and concrete, but that doesn't mean we get rid of them completely," he says. "We are just reproportioning these materials in buildings and not trying to say that one is exclusive over another."

Also raising wood's profile is an expanded menu of engineered products, first developed in Europe a decade ago but now manufactured in Canada. One recent arrival is cross-laminated timber, engineered in various panel thicknesses of 2 x 6 planks, glued cross-wise, often pre-cut and assembled on site faster than traditional materials.

Architects also use laminated veneer lumber (thin strips glued together), laminated strand lumber (a largely warp-free composite material) and glue laminated timber, an established product known for its steel-rivaling strength and used for horizontal beams or vertical columns.

"In just 15 years, wood has repositioned itself as a high-tech material," says Vancouver engineer Eric Karsh, a principal at Vancouver-based Equilibrium Consulting Inc., and Mr. Green's co-author of the tall wood building study. "People are starting to see it as a high-tech material and it is no longer something you use in a rough or inefficient manner," he adds. "We have shown that wood can be used in just about any building type so now it is just a matter of weighing the pros and cons."

Vancouver-based McFarland, Marceau Architects Ltd., with a history of working with natural wood, six years ago became an early adopter of cross-laminated timber, whose structural robustness allows for large spans without beams.

"There is an enthusiasm here in Canada at the moment for increased use of wood in buildings following the European lead," says principal Marie-Odile Marceau. "No question, [there is] a wider palette enabling us to do architectural gestures," she adds, as with cantilevered canopies.

In 2009, her firm was selected for the University of British Columbia's bioenergy research and demonstration facility, situated in a tight space surrounded by trees. "The use of CLT [cross-laminated timber] and other engineered wood products, such as large beams and columns, allowed us to build that facility," she says.

Meanwhile some critics, mainly in the concrete and steel industries, question the fire safety of taller wood buildings. But a study by the University of the Fraser Valley, citing research by others, noted that "tall wood buildings can be designed to provide a minimum two-hour protection rating similar to most current [building] code requirements."

In cost comparisons, mass timber products can be more expensive than concrete or steel, architects say, but a client's wish for an environmentally-friendly building or one that captures the warmth of exposed wood can tip the balance.

"That's when the stars align," says Normand Hudon, associate architect at Quebec City-based Coarchitecture, which used cross-laminated timber for a multi-sport facility at Laval University in 2012. "The university wants to be attractive to students and when you have a warm and welcoming sports facility it helps to attract the best students."

In 2011, his firm won a competition that called for innovation and sustainable development in the design of the Quebec City offices of GlaxoSmithKline Inc. Built of glue-laminated timber, the three-storey carbon-neutral building won the architectural innovation award of excellence from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2013.

The opportunity to work with cost-competitive wood products fuels experimentation, says RAIC executive director Ian Chodikoff. "The more companies in Canada that innovate with products, the more opportunities there are for architects to become innovative in their work."

Three years ago, Quebec-based Nordic Engineered Wood Products became one of two Canadian suppliers of locally-produced cross-laminated wood. In 2013, the company's product was used in a six-storey condominium in Quebec City believed to be the tallest mass timber multi-residential building in the province. A six-storey condo project was just announced for Montreal.

Company spokesman Frédéric Verreault says the adoption of cross-laminated timber for taller buildings entails a shift in thinking by project developers. "It's a matter of a change of culture," he says. "Any change in thinking has to be made one step at a time."]

Similarly, there is "a learning curve" to understand the structural and fire-resistant properties of engineered wood, says Conroy Lum, a research leader on the use of wood in building systems for FP Innovations, a forestry industry research organization. "It costs money to get on that learning curve, train staff and acquire the equipment."

That was the experience of Toronto-based LGA Architectural Partners, which last year won a contract for phase two of Laurentian University's school of architecture, with one wing built of glue-laminated and cross-laminated timber. The project marks the first large-scale use of cross-laminated timber in a public building in Ontario, according to the Sudbury university.

"It was a real accelerated learning curve," says firm partner David Warne, citing the need to understand (and explain to others) the implications of working with cross-laminated timber.

Though City of Sudbury building department officials were receptive, says Mr. Warne, "we had to convince them this new product that no one had tried was suitable for the structure and would not collapse."

He is enthusiastic about adding engineered wood to the architect tool-box. "We will see a bit of a renaissance in wood construction in Canada," he predicts.

Mr. Green, Canada's leading proponent of wood in taller buildings, is even more emphatic.

"This is a tidal wave coming at us," he says, citing dozens of projects on the go across North America.

Heading higher

Examples of tall wood development around the world:

East London: Nine-storey apartment building.

Vancouver: A proposed 16- to 18-storey wood tower for academic programs and student residences at the University of British Columbia.

Quebec City: Proposed 13-storey condominium is a demonstration project.

China: Canadian forestry industry representatives signed a memorandum of understanding last November with China to test the feasibility of building a six-storey wood-frame building and a 12- to 15-storey tower of wood or hybrid systems in Shanghai.

Norway: Fourteen-storey apartment tower (under construction) in Bergen.

Sweden: Developers have plans for a 34-storey tower of wood by 2023.

Melbourne: At 10 storeys (32.1 metres), a timber apartment building is the tallest in the world, for now.

For further information log on website :
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/property-report/next-generation-wood-pushes-to-greater-heights/article22637389/