Smokers who quit successfully find their lives more satisfying than it was when they were still stuck in the unhealthy habit, according to a study.

Quitters scored higher on measures of overall quality of life, health-related quality of life and positive emotions compared with those who continued to smoke, Live Science reported.

The U.S. researchers said they hope to motivate smokers to quit by encouraging them to focus on the benefits of freedom from the tobacco habit.

The study involved 1,504 participants who joined a smoking cessation trial in the United States. The authors first evaluated each participant's smoking status, and plot it against each person's quality of life one year and three years after the smoking cessation trial, according to Live Science.

"Our findings suggest that, over the long-term, individuals will be happier and more satisfied with their lives if they stop smoking than if they do not," the researchers wrote. "This research provides substantial evidence that quitting smoking benefits well-being, compared to continuing smoking."

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The study's "quality of life" measures included the status of the participant's health, self-esteem, philosophy of life and even personal relationships.        

The study authors noted that smokers are reluctant to quit because cessation will decrease their quality of life and could increase a feeling of deprivation.

Researchers stressed that those who quit experienced no such deprivation one or three years afterwards and they are in fact happier.

Study findings showed those who continued to smoke one or three years since the start of the research scored poorly on measures of overall quality of life, compared with those who quit smoking.

Successful quitters also reported that they felt they had fewer stressors by the third year, according to the study.

The smoking cessation study was published online in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine on Dec. 9.

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