Smoking is bad for your health, we all know that. But to go further and demonstrate the impact cigarettes have on life expectancy, British researchers calculated the minutes of life lost per cigarette. Here it is, and it’s impressive.
We know that cigarettes take lives, but the exact number of lives lost is less known. This was revealed in a study commissioned by the UK Department of Health and carried out by University College London. On average, one cigarette reduces life expectancy by 20 minutes
The results were published on Monday, December 30, in the journal Addiction. In the study, the researchers estimated that a smoker’s life expectancy is reduced by 20 minutes for each cigarette smoked. Thus, according to the estimate, after three cigarettes, an additional hour of life is lost in smoke, that is, 7 hours of life are lost for each pack consumed. Another interesting conclusion is that the loss is not the same for men and women: while men lose 17 minutes of life expectancy with one cigarette, for women, that number increases to 22 minutes.
Time lost “in good health”
A person who smokes 10 cigarettes a day loses 50 days of life in a year. And contrary to what tobacco advocates say, this time is “time that could probably have been spent in relative health,” the authors point out. A person who smokes for 30 years loses about 1,500 days of life, which is just over four years.
“Most smokers are aware that smoking can shorten their lifespan, but they are not aware of the impact of every cigarette they smoke,” they further emphasize. But the negative effects are cumulative with every cigarette smoked. The sooner a person quits and the more cigarettes they avoid, the longer they will live. “
12 million people smoke in India
It can’t be said many times before that tobacco not only takes lives, but also causes many serious diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and stroke. Therefore, quitting smoking helps to avoid them. “Quitting smoking at any age significantly improves health, and the benefits are almost immediate,” said British Health Minister Andrew Gwynne in a press release.
According to the researchers, “smokers who quit smoking on New Year’s Day could regain a week of life by February 20th and avoid losing up to 50 days of life by the end of the year. That’s another reason to start quitting smoking tomorrow.” Just to be clear, 75,000 people die every year in India due to tobacco. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of cancer and premature death.
