Health Outlook: The Effects of Smoking Cigarettes

In my last blog post, I wrote about how one’s lifestyle during young adulthood has an enormous impact on heart health and overall happiness later in life. I referenced the CARDIA study, where researchers found practicing healthy behaviors like never smoking, minimal alcohol usage, maintaining a BMI below 25, exercising, and eating a nutritionally balanced, low-fat diet in one’s 20s, and maintaining these behaviors as adults, the participants were at a low risk for developing heart disease by the time they reached their 40s. Many of us would agree smoking is not healthy—but what about occasional smoking, or even using smoking for weight loss or weight maintenance?

Part-time Smoking: How Bad Can it Be?

Though young adults have the highest smoking rate of all the age groups, many of us do not consider the health consequences of occasionally smoking a few cigarettes. In 2009, one study published by the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the Canadian Cardiovascular Study, found that smoking even one cigarette increases the stiffness of arteries in 18-30 year olds by 25%. The study measured the elasticity of the participants arteries after smoking one cigarette and exercising—and concluded “even light smoking in otherwise healthy young people can damage arteries, compromising the ability of their bodies to cope with physical stress like climbing a set of stairs or running to catch a bus.” Ultimately, light or intermittent smoking is not a healthier, long-term solution for those trying to quit smoking and still poses many health risks. Smoking is also an unhealthy method for weight loss and weight management because of all the health risks it poses towards our heart and lungs.

The Reality of How Smoking Affects Your Health and Your Weight

According to the CDC, “smoking harms nearly every organ in the body” and ultimately causes death among smokers. Smoking increases the smoker’s chance of developing coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer (along with many, many other types of cancers), and different respiratory diseases. Smoking not only takes a hit on our physical bodies, but also affects our quality of life. Many people are anxious they will gain weight if they quit smoking. However, not everyone does gain weight, and those who do only gain between 4-10 pounds, but may gain years and years in terms of their lives! Just this summer, the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Relationship published a study on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and smoking cessation—and when following up with the participants, researchers found smokers with higher fruit and vegetable consumption were three times more likely to be tobacco free for at least thirty days at a follow up 14 months later. Eating fruits and vegetables makes people feel fuller, reducing some smokers’ urge to smoke, and they also may worsen the taste of cigarettes. Increasing one's consumption of fruits and vegetables when quitting smoking can also help control weight gain.

Smoking is Incompatible with Other Healthy Behaviors

In learning more about the health risks of smoking—even just light smoking—or using smoking as a means to lose weight, it’s increasingly clear that smoking is simply incompatible with other healthy behaviors like exercising and eating a healthy, balanced diet. Smoking causes respiratory health problems, making exercise challenging and sometimes impossible. Cigarettes can also alter the taste of food and change one’s appetite. Ultimately, healthy behaviors go together—I don’t wake up to teach a 6 a.m. exercise class and then go out and smoke a cigarette—I do leave my class feeling refreshed and strong and craving a fruit smoothie! I don’t know many smokers, or any for that matter, who eat at least 35 full cup servings of fruits and vegetables each week and complete physical activity every day. I do know smokers who are often sick with colds, tired, overweight, and stressed out.

The Good News if You Smoke

What’s important is, if you do smoke, and want to quit, there are some immediate (and longer-term) benefits to your health at any age—your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal and within a few weeks many people notice better circulation and less coughing and wheezing. Within several months, individuals experience substantial lung function improvements and gain a better sense of smell and taste. For more information about how to quit smoking and the benefits, click here: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation.

Have you quit smoking in the past? What benefits to your health and quality of life have you noticed? 
 

 

by sailGirl on 08/13/2012 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, motivation