Recovery Symptoms: These are signs that your body is beginning to heal itself from the damaging effects of nicotine and tar. The overall feeling is often like having a cold. Symptoms generally last only a few days and may include headaches, dizziness, sore throat, coughing, and hunger. These are signs that your body is getting better! Craving: Cravings are a normal part of quitting and are very common. They are your body's physical addiction calling out. Just keep in mind that this usually passes within a week. Difficulty Concentrating: Many people use nicotine to help focus their attention. You've probably heard of chain-smoking writers or tobacco-chewing baseball players. After a while, tobacco becomes a crutch, a way to help handle many of life's everyday tasks. It may take a couple of weeks for you to become accustomed to working without nicotine. Additionally, the increased blood flow and oxygen to your brain can lead to a feeling of mental fogginess. Some people report feeling that sounds are louder, lights are brighter, or that their senses are more intense after they quit. Nicotine actually seems to affect people's concentration by decreasing peripheral vision and hearing. If it seems like the baby is crying louder, or that people in the office are noisier, it's probably just that you notice things more without the numbing effect of nicotine. Fatigue: Nicotine increases your metabolism to an abnormally high rate. When you stop smoking, your metabolism drops back to normal and you may find that your energy level drops. You may also feel fatigued because your body is missing the stimulant (nicotine) that it had become accustomed to. This will go away… it just takes time. Headaches, dizziness, tingling in the hands and feet: When you quit, blood vessels all over your body open back up. Increased blood flow to the cerebellum can cause headaches; increased blood flow to the fingers and toes can give a feeling of tingling (like after your leg falls asleep). Dizziness can result from both lower blood pressure and an increase in oxygen to nerves and tissue as carbon monoxide is eliminated from your blood system. Sore throat, coughing: Many people cough more than usual when they first quit smoking. Although this might be uncomfortable, remember it's a sign that your body is healing! There are tiny hair-like structures in your lungs called cilia that are designed to keep your lungs clean. Tobacco smoke paralyzes the cilia, allowing the lungs to become dirty and coated with mucous. Many people have a morning cough because the cilia “come back to life” after not smoking all night and try to work overtime to clear the lungs out. In the same way, when some people quit, they will cough as their lungs begin to clean themselves out. A sore throat may result from development of new, healthy tissue and the clearing of tar and nicotine from old tissue. Hunger: To pay for all of this recovery your body needs energy and materials to rebuild. The body relies mostly on glucose, or sugar, for energy so you may feel a craving for snacks, especially sweets. Sticking to fruits and fruit juices not only is better for energy but will help you avoid weight gain. Stress Management: Developing new ways to relax and cope with stress is critical to quitting for good. Smokers often say that cigarettes help them deal with stress and that having too much stress makes it hard to quit. Stress is one of the most common reasons many smokers go back to smoking. This section covers different strategies for coping with stress to stay smoke-free.