Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Study reveals smokers get an extra week off work with cigarette breaks

Home> News

Published 05:36 31 May 2023 GMT+1

Study reveals smokers get an extra week off work with cigarette breaks

Punching darts and breaking hearts of non-smokers everywhere.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

Smokers are getting an extra week off from work per year due to their habit, new research has revealed.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates that 52 per cent of smokers step away from work for a ciggy or a vape several times per day.

Of those surveyed, they spend up to 20 minutes outside.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal, right? Well, if you tally all that time together, it chalks up to quite an extended period away from your desk.

Advert

All that time back-to-back equates to roughly 39 hours on cigarette breaks in an entire year.

Talk about punching darts and breaking the hearts of all the non-smokers out there.

Break that down into work days, and smokers are getting six extra days off work per year.

David Cole / Alamy.

Smoking suddenly looks sort of cool again (but not really, don’t do it).

Advert

Roughly 6.6 million people in the United Kingdom smoke or vape, so that’s a hell of a lot of extra leave.

Men across the UK smoke more than women, with 15 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women sneaking out for a smoke break.

Generation Z smokes the most, followed by the baby boomers, as per the ONS report.

Millennials smoke the least, so it seems like all of those anti-smoking campaigns in the '80s and '90s made an impact.

The ONS research found that in people in Belfast and Southampton are the cities where Britons are most likely to skive off work to smoke.

Advert

Another study, conducted by tobacco-free nicotine pouch producer Haypp, found that more than one third of smokers in Brighton and Hove who used to smoke have now successfully kicked the habit.

The research, released in February, compared quit rates across the UK and found that 36 per cent of smokers in the region had quit.

People aged 60 and over were the ones who had the best chance of giving up smoking.

Haypp Head of External Affairs Markus Lindblad revealed that, after following UK government guidance, people who reduce the amount they smoke are more likely to stop smoking eventually.

Brian Jackson / Alamy

Advert

"Particularly if they are using licensed nicotine-containing product alternatives," he said, as per Yahoo News.

"The national harm reduction strategy, where the switch to alternative, less harmful, nicotine products such as nicotine pouches is encouraged, has been key to the UK being one of the most successful countries in Europe in reducing the number of smokers."

The survey also found that an equal amount of men and women in Brighton have quit smoking.

As for those smoking while pregnant, well, that has reduced by 72 per cent in a massive win for parents and babies in the region.

Lindblad told The Telegraph that the new ONS data is surprising.

Advert

"It’s interesting to see that a large proportion of UK smokers are still gaining some extra time away from work to enjoy a cigarette, with some wasting 20 minutes or more every day," he said.

"And while it would save employers one week per year of working hours, a switch to the less harmful pouches could give a smoker many more years of life."

Featured Image Credit: Joseph Salvoni / Alamy Stock Photo. Fotostudio V6.17 / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: News, Health, UK News

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

X

@rlangjournalist

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

15 hours ago
  • 15 hours ago

    Doctor shows how much medicine costs in the US compared to the UK and Australia with shocking results

    Not all healthcare systems were created equal

    News
  • 15 hours ago

    Grim searches prosecutors say alleged killer made before he 'poisoned wife's protein shakes'

    Jurors will also be shown a video of the two arguing shortly before her death

    News
  • 15 hours ago

    Police preparing for 'Trump visit to UK' as protesters vow an ‘even bigger’ response than last time he came

    The US president is unlikely to get a warm welcome

    News
  • 15 hours ago

    People raise concerns over worrying 'food noise' after using Mounjaro weight loss jabs

    Experts have revealed how to stop food noise with Mounjaro

    News
  • Exact amount of minutes smoking one cigarette takes off your lifespan, new study shows
  • What will happen if you buy an e-cigarette after UK smoking ban comes in
  • New study reveals the ‘optimal’ number of times you should have sex each week to stave off depression
  • Man shares best days to book off work in 2025 to get 64 days holiday