Study Shows That Quitting Smoking at any Age is Beneficial
It has long been known that quitting smoking is one of the best things anyone can do for their health. But a common misconception is that it will take your body years to recover and that is too long to benefit seniors. However, that is not the case.
Now, a recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that quitting smoking can be beneficial no matter the age a person quits at: whether 20 or 75. And this is good news for older people
Smoking is Linked to Cancer and Heart Disease
Smoking deserves its bad reputation, according to New Atlas, it has been linked to cancer, stroke, heart disease, and lung disease. Of all the bad habits a person can have, smoking is one of the worst.
Smoking is the leading cause of premature preventable deaths in the US. There are at least 480,000 smoking-related deaths a year, reported a news release from Eurekalert.
Fortunately, this apparently means that quitting smoking is actually one of the best things a person can do for their health. And though a lot of the focus has been on getting young people to quit smoking, this new study shows that quitting is beneficial to people of any age.
Life Tables
According to New Atlas, in order to figure out the benefits of quitting smoking relative to age, the researchers used data from a number of US sources to create life tables that showed life-expectancies in ten-year intervals from the ages of 35 to 85. They found that people who smoked or had smoked through adulthood would lose 9.1, 8.3, 7.3, 5.9, and 4.4 years of their life, respectively, if they continued smoking.
However, if they quit smoking they gained 8.0, 5.6, 3.4, 1.7, and 0.7 years of life, respectively. This means that a person who quits smoking at 65 would have a 23.4 percent chance of adding an extra year to their lives, while someone who quits at 75 would have a 14.2 percent chance. That’s not something to be discounted.
“The cessation benefit is not limited to young and middle-aged adults who smoke; this study demonstrates its applicability to seniors as well. While the gains from quitting at older ages may seem low in absolute terms, they represent a large proportion of an individual’s remaining life expectancy,” Dr. Kenneth Warner of the Department of Health Management and Policy at The University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and a member of the research team told New Atlas.
This study definitively shows that it is never too late to make positive life changes. Quitting smoking at any age can lead to a longer, healthier life.
