With the clock ticking down to January 1st, now is the perfect time to start preparing to kick the habit of good. For smokers, quitting would be a good option. After a fresh assessment of the harms of cigarettes, scientists are urging smokers to quit the habit.
The new study revealed that smoking could reduce life expectancy even more than doctors thought.
Researchers at University College London found that on average a single cigarette reduces about 20 minutes off a person's life, that is a pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person's life by nearly seven hours.
If a smoker of 10 cigarettes a day quits on January 1, they could prevent the loss of a full day of life by January 8. It could boost the life expectancy by a week if they quit until February 5, according to the study.
The assessment found that by the end of the year, they could have avoided losing 50 days of life.
"On average, smokers who don’t quit lose around a decade of life. That’s 10 years of precious time, life moments, and milestones with loved ones," said Dr Sarah Jackson, a principal research fellow at UCL’s alcohol and tobacco research group.
Smoking is a leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide, accounting for more than seven million fatalities annually. Smoking damages nearly every organ in the body, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and various types of cancer, including lung, mouth, and throat cancer.
In an earlier assessment in the BMJ in 2000, on average a single cigarette reduced life expectancy by about 11 minutes, the latest analysis published in the Journal of Addiction nearly doubles the figure to 20 minutes – 17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women, reported The Guardian.
Furthermore, smoking can result in premature ageing, wrinkles, and tooth decay, as well as infertility and pregnancy complications. Quitting smoking can significantly reduce the risk of developing these health issues and improve overall quality of life.
“Stopping smoking at every age is beneficial, but the sooner smokers get off this escalator of death the longer and healthier they can expect their lives to be,” they wrote.
