Just as smoking causes hardening of the arteries, quitting smoking can improve arterial health, although recovery from arterial stiffness may take up to a decade, Reuters reported March 19.

Researcher Noor Ahmed Jatoi and colleagues compared current smokers, ex-smokers and people who never had smoked. "We categorized ex-smokers according to how long they were off cigarettes -- under one year, more than one but less than 10 years and more than 10 years," said Jatoi.

The researchers found that arterial health improved over with time once smokers quit, but only reached normal levels after more than a decade of abstinence.

The study was published in the journal Hypertension.