How Does Your Life Expectancy Decrease If You Smoke?
Many people still think there is no risk associated with smoking until they experience the serious consequences themselves. They often don’t realize how harmful it can actually be to their health. It also significantly reduces life expectancy.
Cigarettes contain many toxic substances that affect the organs in your body. Smoking leads to serious and chronic diseases such as cancer, which can significantly reduce your life expectancy.
Smoking reduces your life expectancy. It is a fact that this custom is responsible for many deaths around the world. Smoking can both decrease your life expectancy and destroy your youth and healthy appearance.
Studies have found that smoking is likely:
- can take up to ten years off your total life expectancy
- it negatively affects the organs in your body
- accelerates the aging process
According to studies conducted by the World Health Organization , more than 6 million people die each year from the effects of cigarette and tobacco smoking, of which 1 million die from second-hand smoke.
Risks of smoking that also affect life expectancy
If you smoke you are more likely to develop:
- heart and vascular disease
- strokes
- emphysema
- chronical bronchitis
- emphysema (also called COPD)
- lung cancer
- esophageal cancer
- skin cancer
An American and British study found that smoking can reduce your life expectancy by up to 10 years. This research was conducted to determine the exact dangers of tobacco use and to study the benefits of smoking cessation.
It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine . To conduct this study, scientists collected data from nearly 217,000 adults in the United States between 1997 and 2004.
The data showed that death rates among smokers are as much as three times higher than among non-smokers. Many of these deaths were the direct consequences of smoking-related diseases.
The study also found that non-smokers are twice as likely to reach the age of 80 as those who do smoke. This means that smoking affects not only the elderly, but also middle-aged people.
The good news is that the study also found that people who quit smoking can get up to ten years of their lives back. Those who quit smoking between the ages of 25 and 34, 35 and 44 and 45 and 54 can add up to ten, nine and six years to their total lifespan, respectively.
Is it possible to quit smoking?
Smoking is a difficult habit to give up, but it’s certainly not impossible. When you try to quit smoking, you may start to crave unhealthy food, for example.
This and other withdrawal symptoms make you think it’s impossible to quit. However, with willpower and a positive attitude, it is possible.
You will probably have to make several attempts, but it will certainly be worth it.
Ways to quit smoking
- Cold turkey: This may be the hardest way to quit, but it’s the way with the highest success rate. Quitting cold turkey gives you the best chance and greatest benefit to stop the negative effects of smoking and increase your life expectancy.
- Quitting Gradually: If you feel like you can’t quit out of the blue, try to reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke per day as gradually as possible. Try to smoke less than half the normal amount at first and reduce it every day after that.
- Alternative nicotine products: Alternative methods of nicotine use besides tobacco consist of a range of products that replace the large amounts of nicotine in cigarettes in the form of smaller doses. This method is perfect for reducing the craving for a cigarette until you are no longer bothered by it.
- Acupuncture: This technique is a traditional Chinese treatment that can help you control your cigarette cravings. It provides a relaxed feeling and can be a great support for people who are motivated to quit smoking once and for all.
