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We all know that smoking kills, and while everything from drinking a can of Diet Coke to eating a cheeseburger is said to shave minutes off your life, there's no denying that smoking is one of the deadliest things we can do to our bodies.
As we head into 2025 and spew out all the usual 'new year, new me' rubbish, we're sure plenty of you are setting out a New Year's resolution to quit smoking. Not only is it a costly pastime that's been largely banned in public, but smoking is taking minutes off your life with every inhalation.
According to research from the University College London, one cigarette will knock an average of 20 minutes from your life (17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women).
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A pack of 20 can be taking nearly seven hours off your life, and considering the idea of a 40-a-day habit isn't that unusual, you could be losing 14 hours a day (if not more) just from smoking. Adding that up over a week is shocking enough, but knocking 213 days a year off your life is a jaw-dropping statistic.
The latest research was shared by the United Kingdom's Department of Health and Social Care and asked people to quit on January 1. Those who typically smoke 10 cigarettes a day but stub out their habit on Jan 1 will have saved a whole day of their life by January 8.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability, and ill health in the United Kingdom, apparently responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year.
Worryingly, these latest statistics suggest that things are even worse than before. A 2000 study from the British Medical Journal previously claimed that one cigarette would take 11 minutes off your life.
Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow, UCL Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group championed the research and told The Guardian: "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."
A 60-year-old smoker will likely have similar health to a 70-year-old non-smoker, and although some smokers live long lives far beyond non-smokers, some smoking-related diseases have caused smokers to die in their '40s.
The study expresses the importance of completely quitting smoking instead of just cutting down on the number of cigarettes consumed. Those who smoke one cigarette a day are only at 50% less risk of heart disease and strokes than those who smoke 20 a day. The study's authors reiterate: "Stopping smoking at every age is beneficial, but the sooner smokers get off this escalator of death the longer and healthier they can expect their lives to be."
Separate research from Censuswide suggests that 53% of smokers are planning on quitting in 2025, but then again, we've all heard that before.
Professor Sanjay Agrawal from the Royal College of Physicians concluded: “Every cigarette smoked costs precious minutes of life, and the cumulative impact is devastating, not only for individuals but also for our healthcare system and economy. This research is a powerful reminder of the urgent need to address cigarette smoking as the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the UK.”
