How Many Years Of Life Do You Lose By Smoking?

Some people think that smoking is harmless, until they suffer serious consequences.

Some people think that smoking is harmless, until they suffer serious consequences. This is why we must stop smoking.

Remember that cigarettes are made up of a lot of toxic substances. These heavily affect the organs of our body.

In the long term, they can cause serious diseases such as cancer. In addition to reducing life expectancy, smoking is one of the vices that cause the most deaths around the world.

Cigarettes also shorten the lives of their consumers. Indeed, in a recent study, it was shown that cigarettes can suppress up to 10 years of life. In addition, it can damage many organs, but also accelerate the aging of the skin and the body.

According to data from the World Health Organization, 6 million people die each year from cigarette-related diseases, including 5 million active smokers, and 1 million passive smokers.

Smoking is an addiction that deteriorates general health. It causes more deaths per year than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), alcohol and illegal drugs. 

What happens when you smoke?

Smoking increases the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, emphysema, or common obstructive lung disease. This is the case, for example, with bronchitis, lung cancer, esophagus, pancreas and also skin cancer.

A study was carried out by American, Canadian and British scientists. Thus, they have shown that a person who smokes can lose up to 10 years of life.

This study, published in the  New England Journal of Medicine,  was carried out with the aim of determining exactly the dangers of tobacco, and the benefits of stopping smoking.

To carry out this study, scientists gathered data from more than 217,000 adult people in the United States, between 1997 and 2004.

Among these data, they were able to discover that the death rate of a person who smokes is 3 times that of a person who does not smoke.

A large proportion of deaths come from illnesses directly linked to tobacco use.

The study also found that people who do not smoke are twice as likely to live to age 80, compared to people who smoke. Tobacco not only affects the elderly, but also those of middle age.

The good news is that this study was able to determine that people who quit smoking on time were able to gain ten years of life.

Indeed, those who quit smoking between 25 and 34 years old, between 35 and 44 years old, and between 45 and 54 years old gained, respectively, ten, nine and six years of life.

Is it possible to quit smoking?

Smoking is a habit that is hard to break, but it is not impossible.

When quitting smoking, many people can suffer from anxiety. They may also suffer from abstinence syndrome, which makes them think that it is unthinkable to stop smoking.

Yet, with willpower and a positive mind, it is possible to quit smoking. And this without having to do it several times.

Advice

If you want to quit smoking, take note of the following methods:

• Stop smoking all at once. This may be the most difficult method to apply, but it is the most effective. Stopping smoking suddenly gives excellent results, and directly stops the negative effects of smoking.
• Gradually decrease the dose. If you don’t feel able to quit overnight, try gradually reducing the amount of cigarettes you smoke each day, until you don’t smoke at all.
• Stop with nicotine substitutes.  Alternative methods to nicotine consist of a series of products that replace the nicotine found in cigarettes.
  These products can be patches, chewing gums, or even nasal sprays. It is thus an excellent method to quit smoking.
• Acupuncture.  This traditional technique, derived from Chinese medicine, can help control cravings. It is relaxing, and can be of great help to people who wish to quit smoking.

There you go, you know why you have to quit smoking.