Journal of Addiction: One cigarette takes average of 20 minutes off from person's life, study finds

Researchers at University College London (UCL) found that on average a single cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person’s life, meaning that a typical pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person’s life by nearly seven hours, reports The Guardian.

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

“People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate just how much,” said Dr. Sarah Jackson, a principal research fellow at UCL’s alcohol and tobacco research group. “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."

The study, commissioned by the UK Department of Health, draws on the latest data from the British Doctors Study, which began in 1951 as one of the world’s first large studies into the effects of smoking, and the Million Women Study, which has tracked women’s health since 1996.

While an earlier assessment in the BMJ in 2000 found that on average a single cigarette reduced life expectancy by about 11 minutes, the latest analysis published in the Journal of Addiction nearly doubles the figure to 20 minutes—17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women.

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