Chilling study reveals exactly how many minutes one cigarette takes off your life
Chilling study reveals exactly how many minutes one cigarette takes off your life
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A chilling study has estimated how many minutes are lost from a person's life each time they smoke a single cigarette. The University College London (UCL) study published today said on average a single smoked cigarette snatches away about 20 minutes from a person's life. This equates to nearly seven hours of life lost when a 20 pack of cigarettes is smoked.
It is estimated that men lose about 17 minutes of life with every cigarette smoked. A woman's life is cut short by 22 minutes per cigarette, the researchers estimated. Research commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care said people who choose to quit for the week from January 1 to January 8 could save a whole day of their lives if they were smoking 10 cigarettes a day.
According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2023 around six million people aged 18 or over smoke cigarettes. It said this is "the lowest proportion" of current smokers since records began in 2011. Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow, UCL Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group said: "It is vital that people understand just how harmful smoking is and how much quitting can improve their health and life expectancy.
"The evidence suggests people lose, on average, around 20 minutes of life for each cigarette they smoke. The sooner a person stops smoking, the longer they live. Quitting at any age substantially improves health and the benefits start almost immediately.
