There is a quiet assumption doing the rounds that if you have smoked for thirty or forty years, the damage is done and there is little point stopping now. It is one of the most persistent myths in health, and the evidence is unusually clear that it is wrong. Stopping at 55, at 65, even at 75, still adds years to your life — and, more to the point, it adds good years.
If you are one of the many people in Ireland who quietly filed “quitting” under things you meant to do in your thirties, here is how to pick it back up.
TL;DR
- Quitting after 50 still delivers real gains — research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2024 found people who stop at 65 avoid losing an average of 1.7 years of life, with measurable benefit even at 75.
- The Healthy Ireland Survey puts current smoking at around 17% of adults, while 30% of the population are now ex-smokers.
- Roughly two thirds of Irish quit attempts are made with no support at all — the single biggest reason most of them fail.
- The HSE provides free Stop Smoking Advisers and free nicotine replacement therapy via the Quitline on 1800 201 203 and QUIT.ie. Medication plus adviser support makes you up to four times more likely to stop for good.
- Tell your GP or pharmacist your quit date — smoking affects how the body processes several common medicines, and some doses need reviewing afterwards.
Why “too late” is the wrong word
Research on smoking cessation long focused on people in their thirties and forties, leaving a gap: nobody had properly measured what stopping does past 65. A 2024 study led by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health filled that gap, modelling the effect of quitting at ten-year intervals up to age 75.
People who stopped at 65 avoided losing an average of 1.7 years of life compared with those who kept smoking, and had roughly a one-in-four chance of gaining at least a full year. Even at 75, quitting produced a measurable gain. The benefits shrink with age — nobody is pretending otherwise — but they do not disappear.
Life expectancy is also the least interesting part of it. What people notice in the first year is the ordinary stuff: the stairs without stopping halfway, a night without a coughing fit, tasting dinner properly.
What changes, and how quickly
- Within a day: blood pressure and pulse settle, and carbon monoxide clears from the blood, so oxygen levels rise.
- Within a few days: taste and smell begin to sharpen — the change people report most and expect least.
- Two to twelve weeks: circulation improves and walking becomes noticeably easier.
- One to nine months: coughing and breathlessness ease as the lungs’ cleaning mechanisms recover.
- After a year: the excess risk of coronary heart disease is roughly halved.
One caveat if you live with COPD or another long-term lung condition: quitting will not undo existing damage, but it is the only intervention proven to slow further decline. That is a different promise, and often a more valuable one.
The Irish picture
Ireland has come a long way since the 2004 workplace smoking ban, the first national ban of its kind anywhere. The HSE estimates there are around 800,000 fewer people smoking here today.
Progress has stalled, though. The Healthy Ireland Survey shows current smoking at about 17%, barely moved since 2019 and well short of the Tobacco Free Ireland target of under 5%. It is more common among men (20%) than women (14%), and among people whose education finished at Leaving Certificate level (21%) than among those who went further (11%).
The most useful statistic is this one: of those who tried to quit in the past year, about two thirds did it on willpower alone. Going it alone is the hardest possible version of the task, and it is what most people here are still doing.
What actually works — and it is free
HSE Stop Smoking Advisers
This is the part most people skip, and the part that matters most. Advisers work in every region, in person, by phone and online. They help you set a quit date, work out your triggers, and stay with you through the difficult weeks. Adviser support combined with stop smoking medication makes you up to four times more likely to quit for good. Phone the Quitline on 1800 201 203 or sign up at QUIT.ie.
Free nicotine replacement therapy
Once you join a HSE stop smoking support programme, nicotine replacement therapy is free — patches, gum, lozenges, sprays and inhalers. Two practical notes: most people under-dose, and most stop too soon. The usual approach is a patch for background cravings plus a fast-acting product for sudden ones, used for eight to twelve weeks rather than a fortnight.
Prescription medicines
Your GP can prescribe stop smoking medication. Ireland’s own health technology assessment work found varenicline the most effective single medicine, and varenicline combined with nicotine replacement the most effective combination of all. These are prescription-only and not suitable for everyone — a conversation to have alongside your medication review. Your community pharmacist is a third route, and often the easiest — no appointment needed.
Three things that matter more after 50
Tell your prescriber your quit date. Tobacco smoke speeds up the way the liver clears certain medicines. When you stop, blood levels of some drugs rise, and a dose you have been on for years may suddenly be too high. This affects several commonly prescribed medicines, including some used in mental health care and some heart and breathing treatments. It is not a reason to keep smoking; it is a reason to let your GP or pharmacist know so they can monitor you.
Weight gain is real, modest, and worth it. Most people gain a few kilos. Against the cardiovascular benefit of stopping it is not a close contest, but it is worth planning for with extra walking and some thought about what replaces the ritual.
If surgery is on the horizon, quitting is prehabilitation. Stopping even a few weeks before an operation improves wound healing and cuts the risk of chest complications afterwards. If you are on a waiting list, that time is usable — see our guide to prehabilitation before surgery.
On having tried before
Most people who successfully stop have quit several times first. Relapse is not a character flaw — it is a standard part of how nicotine dependence is broken. What tends to differ in a successful attempt is not more willpower but more scaffolding: a set date, proper medication at a proper dose, and someone checking in.
And the money is not nothing. A 20-a-day habit in Ireland now runs to well over €6,000 a year — a holiday, a new heating system, or a real buffer against the cost of living.
At Críonna Health we write about ageing as something to be done well rather than merely survived. Few decisions available to you after 50 shift the odds as decisively as this one — and, unusually in health, the support to make it stick costs nothing at all.
This article is for general information and does not replace individual medical advice. Talk to your GP, pharmacist or a HSE Stop Smoking Adviser about the approach that suits you.
📷 Photo by Phil Aicken on Unsplash
