from Techyville

“Moreover, the benefits of dropping the habit extend deep into middle age. Smokers who quit between 45 and 54 gained back six otherwise lost years, and those who quit between 55 and 64 gained four years.

If you are a smoker who feels like its too late to quit, then new research might actually prove you wrong. A new study shows that if you quit by age 40, you have the ability to undo all of the damage that smoking has done to your body. People who never quit smoking lose around one decade from their life expectancy, but a new study shows that people who quit between the ages of 35 and 44 get nine years back on their life.

“Moreover, the benefits of dropping the habit extend deep into middle age. Smokers who quit between 45 and 54 gained back six otherwise lost years, and those who quit between 55 and 64 gained four years.

Quitting young, before age 35, erased the entire decade of lost life expectancy.

The message: It’s never too late to quit, even for heavy smokers with decades of puffing behind them.

But younger smokers should not be lulled into thinking they can smoke until 40 and then stop without consequences, said Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at the Center for Global Health Research in Toronto. Jha led the new study, published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

That’s because the risks of lung cancer and other respiratory diseases linger for years after stubbing the last butt.