Men lose 17 minutes of their life with each cigarette they smoke while women lose 22 minutes, a new research studying the devastating effects of smoking has concluded. The new estimates are higher than previous figures which suggested that each cigarette shortens a smoker’s life by 11 minutes. With 2025 around, researchers at University College London (UCL) who conducted the study, commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care, said that smokers should usher in the New Year by kicking off the unhealthy habit.
“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,” the study authors said.
The study highlighted that on average, a single cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person’s life, meaning that a pack of 20 cigarettes shortens a person’s life by nearly seven hours.
“People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate just how much. 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,” Dr Sarah Jackson, a principal research fellow at UCL was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
Escalator of death
The research suggested that the “sooner the smokers get off the escalator of death”, the longer and healthier their lives can be. It claims that if a smoker quits the habit on New Year’s Day, they could get a week of their life back by February 20, and by the end of the year, they could have avoided losing 50 days of life.
However, in order to get the full benefits of health and life expectancy, the study reiterated that smokers must quit the habit completely. Previous research has shown that there is no safe level of smoking with the risk of heart disease and stroke only about 50 per cent lower for those who smoke one cigarette a day, compared to those who burn up 20 a day.
According to the World Health Organisation, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats that the world has ever faced. It kills more than 8 million people each year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Around 80% of the 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.
