Hardly revelatory news that cigarettes are bad for you, but UK researchers have found new data after completing their One Million Women Study, published in The Lancet: quit before you're 30, or even 40, and you'll tack another 10 years onto your life. 1.2 million women aged 50 to 69 participated in the study, which included a series of the same lifestyle questions asked three years apart and a subsequent 12-year followup, during which 66,000 women passed away. Of the group, 20% of the women were smokers, 28% were ex-smokers and 52% had never smoked.
The women who were still smoking by the second round of questions were almost three times more likely than non-smokers to die during the next nine years. Furthermore, the risk of future illness and fatality came with "light" smokers as well (one to 9 cigarettes per day). These women were twice as likely to die during the study than their non-smoking counterparts. Quit! Quit now! I smoke five a day, and I do yoga, and I feel disgusting. We'll quit together. Sound good?
'The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: a prospective study of one million women in the UK' [The Lancet]
Image via Lucky Business/Shutterstock