94Ha Viewpoint
Research from University College London shows that smoking one cigarette shortens a person’s average lifespan by about 20 minutes, which is equivalent to a pack of 20 cigarettes shortening lifespan by nearly seven hours.
According to the results of this study, if a smoker who smokes 10 cigarettes a day quits smoking on January 1, he can avoid losing one day of life by January 8. If he quits smoking until February 5, his life expectancy can be increased by one week, and if he quits smoking until August 5, he can extend his life by one month. By the end of the year, he can avoid losing up to 50 days of life.
Jackson, chief researcher of the Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group at University College London, told The Guardian: “People generally know that smoking is harmful, but they often underestimate its harm. If smokers do not quit smoking, they will lose an average of 10 years of life.”
A study in 2000 pointed out that smoking one cigarette will reduce life expectancy by about 11 minutes on average, and the latest analysis has nearly doubled this number to 20 minutes. Among them, it is 17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women.
“Some people may think they don’t mind losing a few years of life because old age is often accompanied by chronic illness or disability,” Jackson said. “However, smoking does not shorten the period of unhealthiness at the end of life. It mainly eats up the relatively healthy time in middle age, bringing illness forward. This means that a 60-year-old smoker is often in the same health as a 70-year-old non-smoker.”
“Quitting smoking is beneficial at any age, but the sooner smokers get off the escalator to death, the longer and healthier they will live,” the researchers wrote in the report.
