How many years of life expectancy do you gain by quitting smoking

Saying goodbye to cigarettes always brings benefits to the person who smokes and their environment. Based on scientific studies, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that smoking cessation increases the life expectancy years of smokers. The number of years varies depending on the age at which you quit smoking. Ideally, never start smoking. But, if he has already started using, quitting when you are young is more favorable: you gain more years.

If a person who smokes tobacco quits at age 30, they will gain almost 10 years of life expectancy. In the meantime, if you give it up at 40, you gain 9 years of life expectancy, according to the WHO.

Meanwhile, when smokers turn 50 and quit, they gain 6 years of life expectancy. At 60, three years of life expectancy is gained. In the event that the smoker has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, quitting smoking (including electronic cigarettes) provides a quick benefit: lPeople who quit smoking after a heart attack are 50% less likely to have another heart attack.

The decision to quit smoking may also be favorable to those who live with the smoker. Because quitting smoking reduces the additional risk of many illnesses associated with passive smoking in children, such as respiratory illnesses (eg asthma) and ear infections.

In addition to increasing life expectancy, quitting smoking reduces the risk of impotence in smokers, of having difficulty getting pregnant, of having premature births or miscarriages.

The benefits of quitting smoking today are almost immediate. After only 20 minutes of stopping, your heart rate drops. Within 12 hours, the level of carbon monoxide in the blood returns to normal. Between two and 12 weeks, circulation improves and lung function increases. In one to nine months, the cough and shortness of breath decrease.

Within five to 15 years, the risk of having a cerebrovascular attack (stroke) is reduced to that of a non-smoker. In 10 years, the death rate from lung cancer drops to half that of a smoker. In 15 years, the risk of heart disease is the same as that of a non-smoker.

While smokers sometimes hear about the benefits of quitting, they don’t always really give up. Consumption can already be addictive. In addition, some still give credence to a myth that scientific research has recently debunked. This was a review of 102 scientific studies published in the Cochrane Library.

Some people, including health professionals, believe that smoking helps reduce stress and other psychological symptoms, and that quitting smoking could make your mental health problems worse. They also believe that quitting smoking could harm relationships with friends, family and co-workers.

However, The Cochrane Review of Scientific Studies found that people who quit smoking for at least six weeks experience less depression, anxiety and stress than people who continue to smoke. Those who quit smoking also experienced more positive feelings and greater psychological well-being. In addition, quitting smoking does not have a negative effect on the quality of people’s social relationships. On the contrary, quitting smoking may be associated with a slight improvement in social well-being.

The review summarizes evidence from 102 observational studies with more than 169,500 participants. The authors combined the results of 63 of those studies that compared changes in mental health symptoms in people who quit smoking with changes in those who continued to smoke. They also combined the results of 10 studies that measured the number of people who developed a mental disorder during the study.

A wide range of people participated in the studies, including people with long-term mental and physical illnesses. The follow-up period for participants varied, with the shortest being six weeks, although in some studies follow-up was up to six years. The certainty of the evidence ranged from very low to moderate.

One of the review’s authors, Gemma Taylor, spoke with Infobae in March and commented, “Our work shows that quitting smoking does not worsen mental health. On the contrary, the person will probably feel better when they quit smoking. Many smokers fear that quitting smoking will interfere with their social relationships. That it produces a feeling of loneliness. However, they can be assured that quitting smoking does not seem to have a negative effect on the quality of social life ”.

Some smokers try to quit on their own. Others seek help but do not receive the appropriate treatment or support they need to quit a substance they have used for a long time. Then, they feel frustrated and the belief increases that by giving up smoking, there is no possible well-being, explains Dr. Debora Serebrisky. But scientific research shows that if you seek help and access the right treatment, you can quit smoking without suffering.

Appropriate treatment for quitting smoking includes medication and supportive psychotherapy. Guidelines with recommendations from most countries include nicotine replacement therapy, such as nicotine patches or gum, varenicline, and bupropion. “Supportive psychotherapy is special to accompany smoking cessation. He has a protocol that involves between 6 and 10 meetings with the person who wants to quit smoking. It can be individual or in groups, ”added the doctor.

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