Quitting Smoking and Heart Rate: What to Expect

Heart rate is one of the few changes after quitting that you can measure yourself. Here is what the studies found — and where the numbers you'll see elsewhere come from nowhere.

Nicotine's Effect on Heart Rate

Nicotine is, in the words of a leading pharmacology review, a sympathomimetic drug that releases catecholamines, increases heart rate and cardiac contractility, constricts cutaneous and coronary blood vessels, and transiently increases blood pressure. In plain terms: it triggers adrenaline-type hormones that speed the heart up and narrow some blood vessels. See nicotine's broader cardiovascular effects.

You will see precise figures for how much each cigarette raises heart rate, or how much higher smokers' resting heart rate is. We could not trace those numbers to a source, so we don't repeat them.

What Happens to Heart Rate After Quitting

Minutes: The NHS says your pulse rate "will already be starting to return to normal" after 20 minutes; WHO says heart rate and blood pressure drop within 20 minutes, and the CDC's current page says heart rate drops within "minutes".

Days to weeks: In a study of people who quit on their own, observers measured a fall in heart rate after quitting, from the first check at two days on. It is one of the few withdrawal changes that can be counted rather than asked about. In the only study that tracked it week by week after stopping a nicotine product (pouches and snus), heart rate fell by about 6 beats a minute in the first week, less in weeks 2 to 7, and was back where it started after week 7 — so the drop is real and early, but may not last.

Anxiety and poor sleep: Withdrawal can bring anxiety and broken sleep, and either can make your heart feel like it's racing even as the nicotine effect fades. If you drink coffee, quitting smoking can roughly double the caffeine in your blood within three weeks from the same cups, which can add to it.

Palpitations

Palpitations — being aware of your heartbeat, or feeling it skip or race — are not on the list of recognised withdrawal symptoms, so don't assume they are just withdrawal. Extra caffeine, anxiety and poor sleep are common, harmless causes, but palpitations can also signal a heart-rhythm problem. Nicotine replacement can occasionally cause palpitations too — rare, but worth mentioning to your pharmacist if you are using it.

Get checked if palpitations last, keep coming back, or come with chest pain, dizziness, fainting or breathlessness — urgently if you have chest pain or feel faint. If you have known heart disease, tell your doctor about any new palpitations.

Tracking Heart Rate During Your Quit

Wearables make it easy to track resting heart rate:

Feedback: a falling resting heart rate in the first weeks is one of the changes the studies measured, and some people find it motivating to watch.

Early warning: a raised resting heart rate can go with stress or poor sleep — both high-risk times for a slip.

Exercise: a single bout of exercise eases cravings for up to 50 minutes, even at low intensity, so you don't need to push hard.

FAQ

Does your heart rate go up or down when you quit smoking?

Down. The NHS says your pulse starts returning to normal within 20 minutes, and studies measure a fall in resting heart rate in the first days and weeks. Anxiety, poor sleep or extra caffeine can make it feel otherwise.

Is it normal to have heart palpitations when quitting smoking?

Palpitations are not a recognised withdrawal symptom. Caffeine, anxiety and poor sleep are common causes, but get them checked if they last, keep returning, or come with chest pain, dizziness, fainting or breathlessness.

How much does resting heart rate change after quitting smoking?

We found no reliable average for cigarette smokers. In the one study that measured it week by week after people stopped using nicotine pouches or snus, it fell by about 6 beats a minute in the first week and was back to its starting level after week 7. If pouches are what you are stopping, the nicotine pouch calculator shows how much nicotine they add up to in a day.