How much does it take off your life?

[Love.Hate]

Everyone answers different when i ask them this, how much time does a cigarrette take off your life?

I smoke about 5 a day, so it would be good to know, to give me reasons to cut down and be good :P

[Donkey]

It doesn't work like that. With every cigarette, you damage your lungs and various other parts of the body that the smoke travels through more and more, increasing the risk of cancer in those areas. Some people could smoke 30 a day up to the age of 100 and not have any problems, but others could smoke far less and develop lung cancer at 40 or 50. It's down to increasing your risk the more you smoke.

Smoking obviously has other effects that are less purely down to risk, such as cardiovascular or heart disease problems, irritation of the airways (bronchitis - lots of coughing and mucus), damage to your teeth, increased susceptibility to infections, impotence (only males), and female infertility (damage to the ovaries). Smoking also results in overall higher levels of stress - even though it feels as if nicotine helps, once you are addicted you have to use it just to feel normal again, and if you weren't addicted you would feel better.

If you want to quit smoking, think about it for a while, and read this extract from a BBC article. Have the willpower to do something about it.

"Every time a smoker inhales, these chemicals are drawn into the body where they interfere with cell function and cause problems ranging from cell death to genetic changes which lead to cancer.

This is why tobacco smoking is a known or probable cause of approximately 25 diseases. According to WHO figures, smoking is responsible for approximately five million deaths worldwide every year. However it also contributes to, or aggravates many other diseases and may play a part in many more deaths. Even the WHO says that its impact on world health isn’t fully assessed.

WHO says smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease. By 2020, the WHO expects the worldwide death toll to reach 10 million, causing 17.7 per cent of all deaths in developed countries."

[...]

"If you smoke for a lifetime, there is a 50 per cent chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related - half of all these deaths will be in middle age."

[...]

"Evidence shows people who start smoking in their youth - aged 11 to 15 - are three times more likely to die a premature death than someone who takes up smoking at the age of 20."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/smoking_health_effects.shtml

[transportphile]

each fag takes 35 minutes of your life away

[Donkey]

each fag takes 35 minutes of your life away
Totally useless, untrue, inaccurate information. Please do not listen to this.

[transportphile]

Totally useless, untrue, inaccurate information. Please do not listen to this.

thats what i have read from newspapers so if you want to say something anout my pot say it to me dont just tell people my info is bs if u dont have anything constructive to say sont say anything, rather be thought an idiot than be told :)

[Donkey]

thats what i have read from newspapers so if you want to say something anout my pot say it to me dont just tell people my info is bs if u dont have anything constructive to say sont say anything, rather be thought an idiot than be told :)
Man, I have made it all very clear in my post: http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1597851&postcount=2

This is what science has to say. These are what the facts are. Have a look on the Internet and look at the health effects of tobacco, you will find what you have said is completely unfounded. Even if you have read that in newspapers, newspapers in general are some of the worst sources of scientific/health information as it is all twisted to be sensationalist and hence gain sales.

[christianteen]

Each fag takes off 11 minutes of your life.

[Mortal Coil]

I heard it was 5 minutes, but it doesn't really matter. The point is that you know it's harmful, so you can make a conscious, informed choice every time you reach for a fag. Think, "do I really need this smoke?" and unless you're under a ton of stress, then put it back. That's how I quit :)

[ImCoolBeans]

There is no set 'time' that each one takes off of your life. Don't listen to that.