For years, scientific studies have drawn attention to both the harmful effects of smoking on our health and the benefits that quitting smoking can provide in the short and long term. It turns out that even if you smoked into your 60s and 70s, it's still possible to reverse the damage by quitting.
A study published in the journal American Journal of Preventive Medicine It summarizes what researchers from the University of Michigan found when examining how quitting smoking may affect life expectancy. They found that 52.8 percent of 35-year-olds who quit smoking by age 35 would gain at least one year in life expectancy, and up to 36 percent would gain at least eight years in life expectancy. For 26.8 percent of 55-year-olds, quitting smoking at age 55 could lead to an increase in life expectancy of four years or more.
But the most surprising numbers came from smokers who quit between ages 65 and 75. Current average life expectancy in the United States is about 78 years, according to the CDC, so we might expect it to take longer to quit smoking at this stage of life. It's too late to reap the benefits of abandoning the pack. However, according to the research, 23.4 percent of 65-year-olds and 14.2 percent of 75-year-olds can gain at least one year of life when they quit smoking.
“This study adds to the body of knowledge that supports the critically important assessment that quitting smoking is the best thing people can do to extend their life expectancy,” the team wrote in the study. “This benefit from quitting is not limited to young and middle-aged adults who smoke; this study demonstrates its applicability to the elderly as well. These findings may be valuable to clinicians seeking scientific evidence to motivate their patients to quit.”
If you are in your golden years and think it is too late to give up, rest assured it is not.