If you're a smoker, you probably already know that you should quit. You're probably sick of being told about the health benefits of kicking the habit, but you simply don't want to, or can't.
Well, new research suggests that simply cutting down isn't necessarily as beneficial for light smokers as you might have thought.
The study at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, found that even heavy smokers who quit are less likely to develop lung disease than those who smoke lightly.
So that means if you used to get through a pack of 20 every day, but have now quit, you are in a better position than people who continue to smoke about 10 a day.
The lungs of light smokers also work worse than the lungs of ex-heavy smokers who have entirely quit.
It had been previously thought that people cut down on how much they smoke in an effort to stop altogether - however, about 25 percent of all those who smoke have no intention of stopping, but don't smoke that many cigarettes.
The findings came from studying three decades of information from 3,140 people who took part in a study on Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA).
They tested the lungs of the participants, who were all around 25 years old, and about half were smokers. The tests found how much air they could take in and how quickly they exhaled to see how good their lung function was.
They did these tests at intervals of 15, 20, and 25 years alongside CT scans to assess their overall lung function.
The results found that stable heavy smokers have the highest amount of lung function decline, are eight times more likely to develop lung disease, and a whopping 26 times more likely to develop emphysema.
This is nothing really that couldn't have been predicted. What is interesting is that even heavy smokers who had quit were found to have preserved more lung function than those who were light smokers.
So, even though they've smoked more fags, their lungs performed better for having quit.
They were also less likely to develop emphysema.
Dr Amanda Matthew, one of the professors who conducted the research, said: "We were surprised to find that those who quit had lower disease risk than the group we identified as stable, low-rate smokers, even though those who quit had a greater lifetime exposure to cigarettes.
"There is no safe threshold of smoking on lung health. Cutting down can be a great first step, but quitting for good is the most effective way to reduce lung disease risk."
So, there's the proof. If you're worried about your health, just knock it on the head entirely.
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