• Question: if you smoke a few fags, does it decrease your life length?

    Asked by issyoubadenoughtocausesouthafricahavoc to Darren, Deuan, Duncan, Lori-An, Michelle on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Duncan Hull

      Duncan Hull answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      You’re very unlikely to increase your life length from smoking cigarettes, because of all the cancer causing chemicals in cigarette smoke.

      There is evidence to suggest that other things, like drinking a small glass of red wine a few times a week, can be beneficial in moderation.

      Smoking however, will do you much more harm than good.

    • Photo: Lori-An Etherington

      Lori-An Etherington answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hi, a crude calculation estimated that each cigarrete reduced lifespan by about 11minutes, but there were many other factors involved so I have attached a link to the article if you are interested. If you were to only smoke a few cigarettes and then never smoke again I would doubt very much if this would have an impact on lifespan.
      Hope this helps: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7226/53

    • Photo: Michelle Hudson-Shore

      Michelle Hudson-Shore answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Every cigarette contains poisonous chemicals that can damage your cells so potentially every cigarette can go towards shortening your life. Some say that ‘On average, each cigarette shortens a smoker’s life by around 11 minutes.’ So I wouldn’t recommend it.

    • Photo: Darren Nesbeth

      Darren Nesbeth answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Generally, yes. My mate smokes, and when we go to the park for a kick around, he looks like Death after half an hour or so.

    • Photo: Deuan Jones

      Deuan Jones answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      It definitely has an affect. Even the smallest amount of smoking decreases your body’s ability to transport oxygen and so on which affects your general health and has secondary affects like making it more difficult for you to do exercise easily – so you’re more likely to slip into other bad health habits. The nicotine in smoking is also very addictive, so even if you start with 1 or 2 a day, it won’t be long before your body craves more and you find yourself smoking more.

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