A new study has found that, whether you do it at 35 or 75, quitting cigarette smoking will add years to your life | The findings go to prove that you’re never too old to reap the benefits of stopping smoking.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/quitting-smoking-life-expectancy-all-ages/

23 Comments

  1. From the article: For as long as cigarette smoking has been linked to cancer, stroke, and heart and lung disease, quit-smoking campaigns have urged people to kick the habit as a way of improving their health. But the focus has predominantly been on getting younger folks to stop smoking ‘before it’s too late’. [New research](https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(24)00217-4/fulltext) by the University of Michigan School of Public Health has found that you’ll live longer regardless of the age at which you quit.

    “We have seen a remarkable decline in young adult smoking over the past decade,” said Thuy Le, PhD, who conducted the study with co-investigators David Mendez, PhD, and Kenneth Warner, PhD. “However, rates among older adults who smoke have remained stagnant and to our knowledge, no research had established benefits for them of quitting. We wanted to show that stopping smoking is beneficial at any age and provide [an] incentive for older people who smoke to quit.”

    The researchers calculated age-specific death rates by smoking status – people who never smoked, those who currently smoked, and those who’d smoked previously but quit – using the relative risks of all-cause mortality, using data from a range of national US sources. This information was used to create ‘life tables’ that showed peoples’ life expectancies in 10-year intervals between the ages of 35 and 75.

  2. Damn I don’t really want to start smoking just to go through the hassle of quitting but if it adds years to my life then I’m all in!

  3. Yeah, but those will be the crappy ones at the end when you can break your hip by sneezing.

  4. Yeah unless you didn’t already die from it at 65 that is.

    “If you are a long-term smoker, on average, your life expectancy is about 10 years less than a non-smoker. Put another way, in the UK about 8 in 10 non-smokers live past the age of 70, but only about half of long-term smokers live past 70.” – NHS website

    So way over half of smokers are dead before they get a chance to stop at 75 in the first place.

  5. I_Hath_Returned on

    I wonder what ex-smokers think of their houses when they quit smoking, go on a holiday for a few weeks, and go back home.
    What does their house smell like to them now that they can actually smell the difference?

  6. So the trick is to start smoking, and stop. Add 10 more years. Then do it again over and over and become immortal. DOCTORS HATE THIS ONE WEIRD TIP

  7. charmanderaznable on

    Picking up smoking to quit and min max my life expectancy. That’s game theory baby

  8. IHateTheLetterF on

    Doctor: “You have terminal illness, you will be dead in 3 months.”

    Me: Smokes a cigarette.

    Doctor: “Nooooooooo”

  9. Oh good I’m at month 2 and £700 better off plus I’ll now live slightly longer win-win!

  10. I did it at 37 after 22 years smoking, so far still cannot walk and talk at the same time, but can enjoy the humanity smell at the underground. But I hope my lungs get better with the time

  11. ImTalkingGibberish on

    How cigarette smokers read this: studies prove that you can stop at 75, no need to worry at 35.

  12. Years after I’ve quit, I still find myself dreaming of smoking when I’m asleep. I even make the hand movements or so I’ve been told by my wife.

  13. Full-Scholar3459 on

    I know this is about cigarette smoking but does this also apply to smoking cannabis?