Effects of Smoking on Ageing
- Nov 24, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 25, 2020
Cigarette smoking is the reason behind 480,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. It also includes 41,000 deaths due to second-hand smoke exposure. If we closely examine it, it is 1300 deaths daily and about one in five deaths annually.
There is no doubt that smoking is a major cause of death. There is a new study indicating that it's one of the biggest risks in the 21st century for adults in the U.S. It is a fact that smokers lose about a full decade of life. Unfortunately, this loss of life is not at old age. For instance, it is not a scenario that one is going to reach at age 85 and he/she will only live till 75. Most of it is actually in middle age, where one has a good healthy life.
If we compare risks in women who smoke like men, it is sad to know that they also die like men. It means that they also lose about a decade of life. Now if it looks like bad news from the study, there is also good news as well that because the risks of smoking are so big, the benefits of quitting are also big.
Those who quit smoking early in their life are less vulnerable to lose any year of their life due to smoking. For instance, those that quit by age 40 resultantly get back nine years of life versus losing a decade, if they continue to smoke.
Is it safe to smoke till 40?
It's not safe to smoke till age 40 and stop. There is still an excess risk of 20 % even when you quit smoking at age 40. That's quite significant. It is to keep in mind that 20% is much smaller than the 300 % excess risk if one continues to smoke but still it suggests that smokers can benefit from quitting early. Now the key message that does come out in terms of the benefits of quitting is to quit early.
Quitting at any age is successful. It reduces risks. Suppose if a person quits by age of 50, it means getting back six years of life. Similarly quitting at age of 60 is just like getting back four precious years of life. However, to get the best health back is to quit early.
What happened to Lisa?
Lisa saw her beautiful mom deteriorating into a shocking state as she battled throat cancer. It was a painful journey. She thinks that smoking was the root cause of her early death.
Even on death bed, she was trying to convey a message to Lisa to not become like her. She knew that Lisa started smoking as a young teen like her. Lisa finally quit. She talked to her doctor and now she is living a healthy life.
Twenty minutes after quitting smoking, heart rate drops. One year later, the risk of heart disease cuts in half. Quitting smoking at any age is beneficial. It's never too late. A quality smoking cessation service is available if you want to quit smoking by visiting here:-
You can also know addiction rehabilitation secrets from here:
You can also read the following books to learn the skill of getting rid of addiction:-
In the end, let’s see this amazing video to save us from Alcohol use disorder.
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