Smoking Each Cigarette Reduces Life Span By 20 Minutes, Women At Greater Risk, New Study Finds

The study by the scientists of University College London suggested that women lose an average of 22 minutes of life per cigarette, while men lose 17 minutes. 

Smoking a cigarette could reduce an average of 20 minutes of life span. 

Source : Pexels

Doctors and health experts have long established that smoking cigarettes poses dangers to health. However, studies differ on the harm of cigarettes and its impact on shortening life expectancy.

A recent study has suggested that smoking a cigarette could reduce an average of 20 minutes of life span. 

The study by researchers at University College London suggested that women lose an average of 22 minutes of life per cigarette, while men lose 17 minutes. The research article was co-authored by Sarah E. Jackson, Martin J. Jarvis and Robert West.

The research titled 'The price of a cigarette: 20 minutes of life?', published in Wiley Online Library, smokers who did not stop lost approximately 10 years for men and 11 years for women years of life expectancy, compared with the earlier estimate of 6.5 years. 

"Women in 1996 smoked an average of 13.6 cigarettes per day. Therefore, other things being equal, this would lead to an increase in the estimated loss of life expectancy per cigarette to 20 minutes overall: 17 minutes for men (11*10/6.5) and 22 minutes for women ((11*11/6.5)*(15.8/13.6)," the study stated based on the data of the British Doctors Study over 50 year time period.

It further said that the harm caused by smoking is cumulative and the sooner the person stops and the more cigarettes they avoid smoking, the longer their life expectancy.

"Thus, a person smoking 10 cigarettes per day who quits smoking on the 1st of January 2025 could prevent loss of a full day of life by the 8th of January, a week of life by the 20th of February, and a month by the 5th of August. By the end of the year, they could have avoided losing 50 days of life," the study stated. 

'Smokers Lose Healthy Years'

The study said that those who smoke tend to lose healthy years as they do total years of life. In other words, smoking, instead of reducing your old age, would rather eat into the relatively middle years thus shortening the life span.

The study suggested that while smokers, who do not quit lose approximately 20 minutes of life expectancy per cigarette, stopping smoking at every age is beneficial.

"The sooner smokers get off this escalator of death the longer and healthier they can expect their lives to be," it added.