Our
team is often asked by students what the effects of “light” smoking
are.
Krista Adlington of Mac’s Peer Support team researched the
following points:
“Although
the effects of smoking are well known, smokers often assume that
smoking just a few cigarettes or smoking without inhaling is
not hazardous. The study emphasizes that even very limited tobacco
consumption has detrimental health effects.” – based on
a review of the Copenhagen City Heart Study
“Smoking
any cigarettes at all cause an increased tolerance to nicotine.
In order to acheive the same effect from the drug that
smokers once use to acheive they begin to smoke more and more,
OR
they puff more on each cigarette, inhale more deeply, and hold
smoke
in their lungs for a longer period of time.”
“Smoking
between three and five cigarettes each day puts women at twice
the risk of having a heart attack or dying from other causes
than nonsmokers. For men, smoking between six and nine cigarettes
doubles their risk of heart attack.” – the above two points
are from BUPA’s medical team
“Cigarette
smokers have a lower level of lung function than those persons
who have never smoked.”
“Smoking
reduces the rate of lung growth.”
“Smoking
hurts young people’s physical fitness in terms of both performance
and endurance–even among young people trained in competitive
running.”
“On
average, someone who smokes a pack or more of cigarettes each
day lives 7 years less than someone who never smoked.”
“The
resting heart rates of young adult smokers are two to three beats
per minute faster than nonsmokers.”
“Teenage
smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as
often as teens who don’t smoke, and produce phlegm more than
twice as often as teens who don’t smoke.”
(the
last 6 points are from the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention)
Krista
Adlington is currently a 3rd year Biochemistry student at McMaster
University as well as on the Emergency First Response Team
at Mac. Krista is also Peer Support for Leave The Pack Behind.