Day 6 after quitting smokingThe cleaning crew goes back to work

By Yevhenii, who smoked for 26 years · Updated 30 Oct 2026 · 2 min read

In shortThe cilia in your airways start beating again and move mucus out, so you may cough more this week than while smoking. That is the lungs clearing out. A cough lasting more than a few weeks, blood or chest pain is a reason to see a doctor.

What's happening in your body

Your airways are lined with cilia, microscopic hairs that beat in waves and carry mucus, dust and bacteria up and out of the lungs. Smoke slows them and eventually flattens them. With nothing new landing on them, they start moving again, and the mucus that had been sitting still begins to travel. The NHS describes this as the lungs starting to clear out mucus and debris.

What to expect

Some people cough more this week than they did while smoking, and bring more up. It is unpleasant, and it is a system that works. What comes out was already there, and the airways are finally able to move it. A scratchy throat often comes with it. For most people this settles over the following weeks as the airways clear. A cough that lasts longer than a few weeks, any blood, chest pain or real breathlessness is a reason to see a doctor.

Try this

Help the transport along. Drink more water than usual, since thin mucus moves more easily than thick.

What else you could do

Take a brisk walk that makes you breathe deeply. Warm drinks and the steam from a shower help loosen things too. Do not suppress a productive cough unless it is keeping you awake.

Sources. NHS, Quit smoking timeline. Willemse BW, Postma DS, Timens W, ten Hacken NH. The impact of smoking cessation on respiratory symptoms, lung function, airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation. Eur Respir J, 2004. NHS inform, Cravings when you stop smoking.