Suddenly the brain breathes a sigh of relief Researchers discover a silent turning point in the mind
Those who give up smoking slow down their mental decline in old age as significantly as the brain otherwise ages in up to three years. A new study provides older smokers with a strong argument: it's never too late to stop smoking.
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- The study by University College London examined 9436 people from 12 countries over a period of 18 years.
- Those who quit smoking between the ages of 40 and 89 lost memory and language skills more slowly than comparable people who continued to smoke.
- The advantage roughly corresponds to up to three years less brain ageing, regardless of age at the time of quitting smoking.
- Lung and heart specialists confirm that many smoking-related injuries regress over time.
- Not everything regenerates, but experts emphasize that quitting smoking brings measurable health benefits.
A new study by the University College of London shows that mental decline slows down noticeably after quitting smoking, even after decades of consumption. The team led by epidemiologist Mikaela Bloomberg combined three large ageing studies from Europe and the USA, including data from Switzerland. In total, the mental performance of 9436 smokers aged between 40 and 89 was tracked over a period of 18 years.
Those who quit smoking during this time were compared with a person of the same age, education level, health and test results who continued to smoke. In this way, the researchers wanted to find out as fairly as possible whether quitting smoking itself makes a difference.
They mainly measured the recall of word lists and "verbal fluency", such as how quickly someone can list animal names. Both abilities naturally decline with age. The research question was whether this decline slows down after quitting smoking.
Up to three years cognitive advantage
The result: before quitting smoking, the cognitive curves of the two groups were almost identical. Only afterwards did they diverge. Ex-smokers lost memory and language speed much more slowly than people who continued to smoke.
The difference adds up. Viewed over six years, it corresponds to a lead equivalent to about three years of brain ageing. In simple terms, this means that someone who quits at 70 can be as mentally fit at 76 as someone who is only 73 cognitively. People of the same age who continue to smoke lose this advantage.
It is remarkable that this effect was equally visible in all age groups. Whether someone quit at 45, 65 or 80 hardly played a role. The researchers are therefore sending a clear message: quitting smoking is always worthwhile.
How the brain recovers after quitting
Physiologically, this is plausible. Tobacco smoke fuels inflammation in the body, damages the inner walls of blood vessels and thus increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and gradual circulatory disorders in the brain. These processes put the brain under constant stress and accelerate ageing.
After quitting smoking, these processes partially recede. The blood vessels become more elastic again, the blood clots less easily and inflammation markers fall. Experts point out that cardiovascular risks are measurably reduced in ex-smokers after a few years. It is precisely these improvements that may also explain the slower cognitive deterioration.
The new data, published in the renowned scientific journal "The Lancet Healthy Longevity", fits this picture. The differences in memory and language tests do not occur immediately after quitting smoking, but grow over years.
"Quitting smoking is always worthwhile"
German lung specialist and pulmonologist Carl-Peter Criée emphasizes to the Tages-Anzeiger that noticeable improvements can be seen just a few weeks after quitting. In the first few weeks after quitting smoking, coughing can even get worse because the cilia in the bronchial tubes recover and carry the accumulated "dirt" upwards.
However, many sufferers are less short of breath in the long term, mucus production decreases and coughing up in the morning gradually disappears. Although the risk can no longer be reduced to zero, practically all organ systems benefit.
The risk of heart attack only approaches that of never-smokers after five to ten smoke-free years, and the risk of lung cancer decreases over one to one and a half decades. The recovery is slow but steady.
Where time does not heal all wounds
Not all damage can be reversed. Once pulmonary alveoli have been destroyed, as in the case of emphysema, the tissue no longer regenerates. Even with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the lost lung tissue does not come back.
The same applies to other organs: a fatty liver can regress in the early stages with exercise and weight loss. However, if it is stressed for years, scars develop, first fibrosis, then cirrhosis. This can no longer be reversed. Closed vessels in the heart and brain remain closed.
The new "Lancet" analysis does not change this. However, it shows that there is still something to be gained even from an already damaged foundation. The cognitive curves are flatter after quitting smoking. Quitting smoking therefore remains the strongest lever for reducing health risks.
Damage can be slowed down, not eradicated
However, quitting smoking is only one of many building blocks. Cardiologist Ulrich Laufs from Leipzig University Hospital told the Tages Anzeiger newspaper that vascular plaques in the arteries can also stabilize if blood pressure and blood lipids are well regulated and people get moving. This reduces the risk of a sudden plaque rupture, which can trigger a heart attack.
The same applies to diabetes. High blood sugar levels over many years leave their mark on the blood vessels, even if the levels later return to normal. Such processes are gradual and only become noticeable at a late stage.
The lesson: intensity and duration of unhealthy behavior count. Four packs a day over ten years are more harmful than eight cigarettes over fifty years, even if the total amount of nicotine is similar. Nevertheless, it is better to quit late than to continue smoking. Every stop brings health benefits.
What really makes people quit
But how do you convince smokers who have been smoking for decades to quit? Doctors know that abstract risks often have little effect and that tangible examples are more effective. Some react to the thought of shortness of breath, others to the prospect of remaining as mentally clear as possible in old age.
Cardiologist Laufs likes to use everyday life and biographies to try this: those who are cold to the prospect of dementia at 80 may be put off by erectile dysfunction or visible skin damage. Others react when they see the oxygen tubes of COPD patients in the waiting room.
The new study now provides a further argument. Quitting smoking also protects the ability to think. In a society in which everyone is getting older and older, this could be the decisive argument for some.
