Smoking Adversely Affects Lifespan

While the lethal effects of cigarette smoking have long been known, the new study, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, is the first to quantify the damage over the lifetime of a generation.

The study also found, however, that kicking the cigarette habit had equally dramatic effects. He found, for instance, that someone who stops smoking by age 30 has the same average life expectancy as a nonsmoker, and someone who stops at 50 will lose four, rather than 10, years of life.  The consequence of the tobacco “epidemic” has been to undercut great strides in public health that would otherwise have kept millions more people alive, the researchers said.

A study of male smokers revealed that each cigarette smoked, a typical smoker will lose 11 minutes of their estimated lifespan. Dr. Mary Shaw and colleagues from the University of Bristol in England based their findings on data from a survey of British households. They calculated that the typical male smoker “will consume a total of 311,688 cigarettes” from age 17 until death at age 71.

The only solution to live longer is to cut down on the number of cigars consumed each day. If you tell yourself that more than ten minutes of your life is too precious to be lost, it will help you slow down on your addiction. Drinking lots of water and going for long walks refreshes the mind while also keeping you distracted from this dangerous habit.

One Response to “Smoking Adversely Affects Lifespan”

  1. samantha Says:
    March 12th, 2008 at 11:04 am

    this information really helped me on my research that im doing in school on how smoking should be illeal.

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