Smoking just one cigarette can shorten lifespan by about 20 minutes

A team of behavioral scientists from University College London has found that in long-term smokers, just one cigarette shortens the lifespan by about 20 minutes. They published one editorial in the news Addiction outlining their research examining the longevity of smokers in Britain

There is an overwhelming amount of research showing that cigarette smoking is a serious health hazard; it has been described as the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States. Yet more than 6.5 million people in Britain are categorized as current smokers. In this new research, the UCL team have taken a different approach to convincing people to quit, highlighting the damage just one cigarette does.

The researchers pulled statistics from the British Doctors Study to find mortality data for men living in Britain, and the Million Women Study for women. They calculated the impact of smoking on lifespan down to the level of a single cigarette for both sexes. They found that among long-term smokers, a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by 17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women.

They also found that data from both sources supported previous findings that the harm from cigarette smoking is cumulative and that the benefits gained from quitting smoking depend on several factors, including current health, how long a person has lived and how many cigarettes he smokes per day. .

The research team further noted that the overall benefits of quitting smoking can be broken down by day, week, month or even years. For example, not smoking for a week can prevent a reduction in lifespan by one day; If you do this for a few months, you can avoid shortening the lifespan by a full week.

They also note that quitting smoking at a relatively younger age may provide greater benefits than quitting at an older age; For example, quitting by age 40 has been shown to reduce the risk of dying from smoking-related conditions by as much as 90%.

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