Home » Cigarettes lose years of life. But quitting helps recover them

Cigarettes lose years of life. But quitting helps recover them

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Cigarettes lose years of life.  But quitting helps recover them

Quitting smoking is undoubtedly a healthy choice. The benefits of cessation have long been unequivocal for the entire metabolism. However, former smokers showed higher disease and mortality risks than non-smokers – full-fledged cigarettes burn years of life. But good news comes of the National Cancer Institute of Bethesda, Maryland. A better, healthier and more balanced lifestyle can actually make up for lost years.

The lifestyle study of 160,000 former smokers

The study, just published on Jama Network Open, examined the lifestyle and health status of 159,937 former smokers who had participated in the National Institutes of Health Diet and Health Study, ascertaining that keeping body weight under control, eating a balanced diet, exercising and not drinking alcohol in the following years, up to 2019, have led to lower mortality, regardless of previous risks due to cigarette smoking. In short, evidence has been found that former smokers can benefit their health by not only saying goodbye to cigarettes forever, but also by following the most common recommendations for a healthy lifestyle.

There is hope for everyone

As the doctor explains Maki Inoue-Choiepidemiology of National Cancer Institute and lead author of the research, “the lowest mortality rate was observed regardless of health status, co-morbid conditions, the number of cigarettes participants used to smoke per day, as well as years from quitting and age at start of smoking “. In short, there is hope for everyone.

8 million deaths a year from tobacco

“Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States as well as the rest of the world. Tobacco use still causes more than 8 million deaths a year today, yet growing awareness of the harms of smoking and the latest tobacco control policies have led to substantial rates of ex-smokers, reducing the prevalence of cigarette smoking by about two-thirds and avoiding millions of premature deaths. ” Even more so if, consciously, after smoking cessation, you decide to switch to a better lifestyle: “The greater the adherence to healthy health choices, the lower the risk of getting cancer and incurring cardiovascular diseases. or respiratory “.

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The harm of smoking, alcohol and obesity

Smoking cessation itself already reduces the risk of cancer, chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A study recently published in Lancet states that without smoking, alcohol and obesity there would be five million fewer deaths from cancer. The smoke effect on the heart, then, is much worse than previously thought. In addition to being more fragile, a smoker’s heart tends to thicken its walls and miss more easily. So saying goodbye to cigarettes before developing permanent damage means recovering heart health. Despite this, “ex-smokers remain at higher mortality risk than non-smokers, and can only benefit from adhering to certain recommendations,” continues Dr. Inoue-Choi. “The indications of the World Cancer Research Foundation, dell’American Institute for Cancer Researchdell’American Cancer Society andAmerican Heart Association they include maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active, eating a healthy diet and limiting alcohol consumption as well as avoiding smoking. And following this lifestyle rewards “, thus increasing the years of life.

And vaping doesn’t help to quit

“Thanks to the data offered by this large sample of former smokers and the long follow-up we were able to collect data that we did not have before, allowing us to evaluate the participants’ adherence to healthy lifestyle recommendations and the implications they had on mortality”, he concludes. Inoue-Choi. Now this study, along with the one on e-cigarettes that don’t help quit smokingHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciencerepresents a new milestone in research on tobacco and the most direct implications on health, a warning for all new post-Covid smokers.

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Iss, after Covid the number of smokers is growing: I am one Italian out of 4


The number of smokers has increased with the pandemic

In fact, almost one in four Italians is a smoker today. A percentage that had never been recorded since 2006, confirming how the pandemic has significantly influenced the nicotine habits of Italians. The report of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità is clear: “After a long period of stagnation, this year we are witnessing an increase of 2 percentage points: a sign of concern – said the president of the ISS. Silvio Brusaferro – and with respect to which it is important to activate prevention actions starting from the youngest to guarantee a longer life, with less disabilities and qualitatively better for us and for those who live next to us “.

Vaping is bad, even for healthy young people

by Noemi Penna


“Quitting is the most important thing a smoker can do to improve their health – recalls the professor John Pierce -. Evidence indicates that switching to e-cigarettes has made it less likely, not more likely, to stay out of this addiction “which, as Dr. Holly Middlekauff of David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA “plays a significant role in causing cardiovascular, pulmonary and neurological diseases, as well as cancer, just like traditional cigarettes”.

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