Running and Quitting

A new study from Taiwan has shown that people who exercise are 55 per cent more likely to quit—and 43 per cent less likely to relapse into smoking, too.

 

This is something I have TWICE experienced in my life. I was a smoker in my final two years of high school and my first year of university. I was able to beat my addiction in my sophomore year and kept running smoke free for the next 7 years. Then I took it up again, due to stress of course, and smoked for my last year in the USA and my first two years in Spain. For the last three years I have returned to running and haven't had a craving in over two years. I am almost in nearly the same shape I was in my early thirties, and hope to surpass it in the coming year.

 

But it gets better for us, reformed smokers: this new study also showed that, for those smokers who didn’t quit, exercising increased life expectancy by 3.7 years. Those that exercised and did manage to quit saw an increase in life expectancy of 5.6 years.

 

Now, if you’re wondering how much exercise you need to improve your chances of quitting, and a valid question in our hectic society. The startling answer is 30 minutes per day. That sounds like a pretty good deal for 5.6 extra years of life.