If you are looking for another reason to keep that new year's resolution to quit smoking, listen to the findings of a recent study.
Male smokers are robbed of an average of 11 minutes off lifespan with each cigarette smoked, UK researchers estimate.
Smokers could be missing out on a lot of living, researchers said, pointing out that 11 minutes is enough for a phone call to a friend or a healthy walk.
Dr. Mary Shaw and colleagues from the University of Bristol in England based the estimate on data from a survey of British households.
They calculated that the typical male smoker "will consume a total of 311,688 cigarettes" from age 17 until death at age 71.
In a separate analysis, researchers found that a lifetime of smoking reduces the lifespan of the average male smoker by 6.5 years, compared with non-smokers.
This means, the research team wrote, that "each cigarette has cost him, on average, 11 minutes of life."
Eliminating a full carton of cigarettes would buy the smoker an extra day and a half of life -- enough time to fly around the world or take in an opera, the researchers said.