Smoking a single cigarette could take 20 minutes off life expectancy
Smoking a single cigarette could take 20 minutes off life expectancy
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Each cigarette a person smokes could shorten their life by 20 minutes, according to new estimates. The new figures are an increase on previous estimates, which suggested a cigarette shortens a smoker's life by 11 minutes. The data suggests if a 10-a-day smoker quits on 1 January, then by 8 January they could "prevent loss of a full day of life".
By 20 February, their lives could be extended by a whole week. If their quitting is successful until 5 August, they will likely live for a whole month longer than if they had continued to smoke. The figures come from analysis commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care and carried out by researchers from University College London (UCL).
According to the new estimates, the average man loses 17 minutes of life with every cigarette they smoke, while a woman's life is cut short by 22 minutes with each cigarette. Researchers analysed up-to-date figures from long-term studies tracking the health of the population.
They said that the harm caused by smoking is "cumulative" and the sooner a person stops smoking, and the more cigarettes they avoid smoking, the longer they live. Follow our channel and never miss an update. The authors added: "Studies suggest that smokers typically lose about the same number of healthy years as they do total years of life.
"Thus smoking primarily eats into the relatively healthy middle years rather than shortening the period at the end of life, which is often marked by chronic illness or disability. "So a 60-year-old smoker will typically have the health profile of a 70-year-old non-smoker.".
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