- More than one million people in the UK have given up smoking since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study by the non-profit Action on Smoking and Health.
- Nearly half (41%) said it was a direct response to heightened health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic.
- The study also found that older people slow down more slowly than younger people, despite being categorized into the vulnerable group.
- “I do not want to be one of those people in a department with an oxygen mask over my face, struggling to tell my loved ones how I feel,” one recent quitter told Business Insider.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Saurav Dutt smoked up to six cigarettes a day.
The 38-year-old author from London first adopted the habit as a way to relax from college exams. But over the years, he found that it helped him focus, and it became essential to his writing process.
“Smoking inspires my writing … and drives me out of dark moods when I hit writers’ blocks or doubt my efforts,” Dutt told Business Insider.
But when COVID-19 gripped the world, Dutt – who had tried to stop in the past but never managed to do so – decided that it was finally time to give up.
So, after 18 years of smoking, he quit.
“I do not want to be one of those people in a department with an oxygen mask over my face, struggling to tell my loved ones how I feel,” Dutt said. “COVID-19 has brought the issue of personal health into focus for me like never before.”
He is not alone. According to a recent survey by the UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), conducted between 15 April and 20 June, more than one million people in Britain have given up smoking.
Of that population, nearly half (41%) said it was a direct response to increased health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, the study added. COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has so far killed more than 700,000 people worldwide.
Their response is understandable: COVID-19 is known to attack the respiratory system first, with symptoms including bad cough and shortness of breath.
Smokers may be at higher risk of developing severe symptoms of coronavirus
In recent months, researchers have been trying to figure out how strong the link between smokers and severe coronavirus cases really is.
A recent study by The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco found that smokers are almost twice as likely to develop severe symptoms of coronavirus.
The study examined more than 11,000 COVID-19 patients and found that about 30% of those who had a history of smoking saw their circumstances progressing toward a harder than critical state.
Another study published last month by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that one in three young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 cases, with smoking habits playing a large part.
Patients are considered vulnerable if they have at least one risk factor set by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including health conditions and smoking habits.
More young people are giving up smoking
Younger smokers seem to give up smoking at a much higher rate than their older counterparts.
The ASH study found that of the 1 million people who stayed between April and June, 400,000 were between 16 and 25 years old.
“For young people who are retired, there is a desire to be generally healthier, and to take control at some point in their lives where that control has been removed,” Hazel Cheeseman, policy director for ASH, told Business Insider.
“Younger people are more likely to be in employment that is disrupted, or have disrupted their education as social life. Their life is much more affected by the experience of lockdown, while parents have been in their own homes and maintained their own space.”
Cheeseman said the findings of ASH have been “surprising”, considering it is older people who are more at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“Older smokers have been smoking longer because most people start in their teens. They are therefore probably harder addicted and therefore it is more difficult for them to get older,” she said.
“But they are also more isolated from some of the factors that have motivated people to stop at the moment.”
While the survey results showed a sign of short-term success for smokers who give up, it remains to be seen if this translates into a continuous pattern.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned that the disease poses particular risks to smokers.
In a press release in July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Smoking kills 8 million people a year, but as users need more motivation to kick the habit, the pandemic provides the right stimulus.”
That stimulus has worked for Dutt. He said that although it has not been easy, he knows it is for the better.
“Quitting has been incredibly difficult, but closer to 40, the reality of health care is more important than ever, and I’m no longer ready to allow a drug to rule my life,” Dutt said.
