Quitting Smoking After 50: Is It Worth It?
Perhaps you are one of the many French people who have decided to quit smoking in November, during the Month Without Tobacco. If you are hesitating to quit smoking because you are already in your fifties, read the following article! We explain why quitting smoking is good for your health even after 50 and whatever your age.
At what age should I stop smoking?
After the age of 50, 60 or 65, smokers tell themselves that it is no longer worthwhile to quit smoking because their lungs are too clogged and that 'you have to die of something'!
But this is not true! Regardless of your age, it's never too late to quit smoking. Even if you are a senior citizen, you can improve your health and life expectancy by quitting.
According to the latest statistics from INSEE, in 2021, life expectancy at age 65 was 23.2 years for women and 19.1 years for men. You still have many beautiful years ahead of you and you will be able to enjoy them better if you stop smoking.
Why stop smoking?
During Tobacco Free Month throughout November, it's a good reminder that quitting smoking provides many health benefits, even after age 50.
The first benefits appear very quickly because carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body within 24 hours. After 15 days, the platelets in the blood return to normal.
Just one year after quitting smoking, the risk of dying from a heart attack is halved. After 1 year of cessation, the risk of having a stroke returns to the same as for a nonsmoker.
Deciding to quit smoking is therefore the best thing you can do for your heart health, especially in older people who are at greater vascular risk.
Does quitting smoking reduce the risk of cancer?
Of course, quitting smoking won't give you brand new lungs... But after 10 years of quitting, the risk of getting lung cancer is close to that of non-smokers.
For this particular cancer, the duration of exposure is more important than the number of cigarettes smoked each day. Therefore, there is a strong case for weaning yourself off smoking as soon as possible.
It should also be noted that smoking is the number one preventable factor for several cancers: lung cancer, of course, but also mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus and bladder cancer.
What are the benefits of quitting smoking?
Whatever your age and even after 50, quitting smoking will bring you many benefits:
- regain a better respiratory capacity and be less out of breath on a daily basis
- cough less, especially if you suffer from COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- be able to return to sports more easily
- be sick less often in winter
- regain your sense of taste and smell after a few weeks and thus regain the pleasure of eating and cooking good food
- regain a beautiful skin
- be proud of yourself, of having succeeded in getting rid of this addiction and of setting a good example to your children and grandchildren
- save money: if you smoked 10 cigarettes a day, you will save €150 in a month!
Quitting smoking will therefore do you good and do good to your wallet especially in this period of inflation.
