Happy ‘World No Tobacco Day’! Did you know, according to research conducted by GfK NOP, 1 in 10 smokers quit on World No Tobacco Day? If you’re still looking for that reason to quit, we think we might have a few for you.

I bet it never crossed your mind that there could be a correlation between smoking and productivity, so this ‘World No Tobacco Day’ we decided to do a bit of research to see if this is the case – and hopefully give you that final push towards packing in the ciggies.

The basics.

At an absolutely base level, you will be more productive if you are alive. Simple as. And as I’m sure you all know, smoking is a major factor in increasing your risk of mortality.

Fewer distractions, more time.

From a common sense point of view, you’ll be more productive if you quit smoking because you’ll have more time to work (bye bye smoking breaks), will have no distractions when working on a project (bye bye smoking cravings), and will have one less item on your to-do list (bye bye needing to purchase cigarettes).

What the studies have shown.

An article found in the journal Tobacco Control reported the following findings from a study it undertook whilst monitoring the attendance, productivity and perceptions of ticket sales staff for a major U.S. airline – 100 of the subjects smoked, 100 didn’t (and never had), while the final 100 had quit.

The researchers found that the smokers took on average nearly 3 times as much sick leave as non-smokers, as well as taking significantly more time off compared with the ex-smokers too.

The more recently an ex-smoker had quit, the more absenteeism they still showed.

On average it took quitters 12 months to become more productive than current smokers, and once past the one-year benchmark of quitting, it was shown that ex-smokers were on average 5% more productive than smokers.

The biggest incentive.

If that wasn’t enough of a reason to consider quitting then perhaps the final finding from the study might be.

Taken from analysing a standard questionnaire handed out before the study, researchers also found that current smokers were the least satisfied with their lives.

Final thoughts?

No smoking = happier life!

#WorldNoTobaccoDay