It is well known that smoking is harmful to health, serving as a leading preventable cause of disease, disability and premature death. But what impact does smoking have on lifespan?
According to an editorial published in the journal Addiction, among long-term smokers, a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by 17 minutes for men, and 22 minutes for women. Overall, men can lose about 10 years of life expectancy and women about 11 years.
The damage caused by smoking is cumulative, but the sooner a person quits, the longer they will live. For example, if a person who smokes 10 cigarettes a day quits on January 1, he could prevent losing an entire day by January 8th, a week by February 20, and a month by August 5. They could have avoided losing 50 days of life by the end of the year.
Rather than shortening the final years of life, smoking primarily robs individuals of their healthy middle years. A 60-year-old smoker, for instance, typically has the health profile of a 70-year-old non-smoker.
However, the harm caused by smoking is not the same for every smoker. Some individuals may live long and relatively healthy lives, while others may succumb to smoking-related diseases or even die in their 40s. This variation depends on several factors, including smoking patterns (such as the number of puffs and depth of inhalation), the type of cigarette smoked and individual susceptibility to the toxic substances in cigarette smoke.
