A cigarette takes 20 minutes from life expectancy, the study found Smoking

Smokers are being urged to kick the habit by 2025 after a new review of the harms of cigarettes found they shorten life expectancy more than doctors thought.

Researchers at University College London found that on average one cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person’s life, which means that an average pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person’s life by almost seven hours.

According to the analysis, if a smoker of 10 cigarettes a day stops on January 1, they will prevent the loss of a whole day of life on January 8. They could increase their life expectancy by a week if they quit until February 5 and a whole month if they quit until August 5. By the end of the year, they would have avoided losing 50 days of life, the check found.

“People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate how much,” said Dr Sarah Jackson, a lead researcher in the alcohol and tobacco research group at UCL. “On average, smokers who don’t quit lose about a decade of life. That’s 10 years of precious time, life moments, and milestones of loved ones.

Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of disease and death in the world, killing up to two-thirds of long-term users. It accounts for around 80,000 deaths a year in the UK and a quarter of all cancer deaths in England.

The study, commissioned by the Department of Health, draws on the latest data from Study of British Doctorswhich began in 1951 as one of the world’s first major studies of the effects of smoking, and the Million Women Studywhich has been tracking women’s health since 1996.

While an earlier one BMJ assessment in 2000 found that on average one cigarette reduced life expectancy by about 11 minutes, the latest analysis published in Journal of Addiction almost double the figure at 20 minutes – 17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women.

“Some people may think that they don’t mind losing a few years of life, because old age is often marked by chronic illness or disability. But smoking doesn’t shorten the bad time at the end of life,” Jackson told the Guardian. “It basically eats away at the relatively healthy years of middle life, leading to the onset of poor health. This means that a 60-year-old smoker usually has the health profile of a 70-year-old who doesn’t smoked

Although some smokers live long lives, others develop smoking-related diseases and even die from them by the age of 40. The difference is due to differences in smoking habits such as the type of cigarette used, the number of puffs taken and how deeply smokers inhale. People also vary in how susceptible they are to the toxic substances in cigarette smoke.

The authors emphasize that smokers must completely quit to obtain the full health and life expectancy benefits. Previous work has shown that there is there is no safe level of smoking: the risk of heart disease and stroke is only about 50% lower for people who smoke one cigarette a day compared to those who smoke 20 a day. “Quitting smoking at any age is beneficial, but the earlier smokers get off this escalator of death the longer and healthier they can expect to live,” they wrote.

The Department of HEALTH said smokers can find advice, support and resources on the NHS Quit Smoking app and the online Personal Quit Plan, which tailors its advice to the individual’s preferences.

Prof Sanjay Agrawal, a special adviser on tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “Every cigarette smoked costs precious minutes of life, and the cumulative effect is harmful, not only for individuals but also for of our healthcare system and economy.This research is a powerful reminder of the urgent need to tackle smoking as the UK’s leading preventable cause of death and disease.