2 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
The costs of smoking go far beyond your health
More than eight million people die each year from smoking, according to the World Health Organization. (Pixabay pic)
PARIS : Twenty minutes. That's how much time a single cigarette steals from our lives, according to researchers at University College London.
But this statistic, dramatic as it may be, only tells part of the story: smoking also jeopardises your professional and financial future, especially when you are just starting out in your career.
A Finnish research team has investigated this little explored aspect of smoking. By analysing data from 3,596 participants monitored for nearly 20 years, these scientists have discovered a worrying phenomenon: each additional 'pack-year' – the equivalent of one pack smoked daily for one year – reduces income by 1.8%.
This means reducing consumption by five pack-years could increase income by 9%. This calculation is all the more impactful when you consider that a regular smoker can easily accumulate several dozen pack-years over the course of their life.
But the impact doesn't stop there – researchers also observed that each additional pack-year reduced time spent in employment by 0.5%. This is a double blow for heavy smokers, who suffer both a drop in income and greater job insecurity.
Published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, this study reveals a substantial wage gap between smokers and non-smokers, especially among young workers with lower levels of education – a reality that raises questions about social inequalities in relation to smoking and its consequences.
But why does this difference diminish with age? Researchers put forward an intriguing hypothesis: the growing negative stigma surrounding tobacco use among younger generations. Smoking is increasingly becoming a negative social marker, particularly detrimental at the start of a career.
Despite a downward trend in global consumption, figures from the World Health Organization remain alarming. More than eight million people die each year from smoking, including 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke.
Fortunately, all is not lost, as the study provides some reassuring information: former smokers can avoid these economic losses. Unlike those who continue to smoke into later adulthood, they regain financial prospects equivalent to those of non-smokers.
This proves, if proof were needed, that it is never too late to quit, and that the benefits of quitting smoking go far beyond health, extending into the economic and professional spheres.
