Oslo: Smokers are more likely to suffer from depression than non-smokers, researchers in have found.
An 11-year study of adults found that the level of depression increased the more cigarettes smoked and heavy smokers – those on more than 20 a day – were four times more likely to suffer.
The report from the University of Oslo concluded that nicotine may change brain levels of the mood enhancing chemical serotonin in long-term smokers.
London: Smoking can seriously damage your sex life – that is the message from theEuropean Commission’s ‘HELP – For a life without tobacco’ campaign. While tobacco marketing regularly associates smoking with glamour, fun, and
attractiveness, the stark reality is far from the fantasy featured in
fashion shows, magazine editorials and tobacco advertising.
The bad news is that smoking can ruin your health, happiness and
relationships. The good news is that giving up smoking is beneficial. An article produced by the HELP campaign in conjunction with the ENSP (European Network of Smoking Prevention) highlights the harm that smoking can do to both men and women’s sex life.
The issues include: · Impotence (men) · Hormonal changes affecting appearance (women) · Damage to testes and to sperm (men) · Painful and irregular periods (women) · Cervical cancer (women) · Premature aging (men & women) · Fertility problems (men and women) When it comes to smoking, sex and romance, the picture is not a pretty one.
Smoking damages almost every aspect of our looks, our health and our relationships. The good news is that in young people, many of these effects can be avoided or even reversed by quitting. “Many young people view smoking as a pleasurable, relaxing activity after sex but they don’t think about the long term health consequences. Impotence and infertility are health messages we need to make young people aware of.
They need to know it’s not cool to light up after sex. QUIT advisors can help young people talk through all issues concerning smoking and sexual health,” said Ruth Bosworth, Director of Services, QUIT.
The Europe Community is actively developing a complete anti-smoking policy. You can find out more on thefollowing websites: www.help-eu.com and Smokers looking for help to quit smoking can call Quitline 0800 00 22 00 or
email stopsmoking@quit.org.uk for friendly advice on how to stop.
New York: Smoking cigarettes lowers intelligence, according to a study conducted by the Universityof Michigan.
Scientists studied 172 men – 66 of whom smoked – and gave them scores based on how quickly and accurately they responded to the tests. All smokers were allowed to smoke during the sessions, and it was found that in all the tests, smokers scored lower than non smokers.
The impact on memory, problemsolving and IQ was most pronounced among those who had smoked for years. Robert Zucker, a professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, said: ‘The exact mechanism for smoking’s impact on the brain’s higher functions is still unclear, but may involve both neurochemical effects and damage to the blood vessels that supply the brain.’
The study adds to a growing body of evidence that smoking may affect mental ability. Last year, researchers found that it could increase the risk of dementia later in life.
Dr Jennifer Glass, of the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry, called for more research to confirm the findings and to look at whether women smokers suffer similar memory problems.
Oslo: Smoking just one to four cigarettes a day almost triples a smokers risk of heart disease and lung cancer, reveals a large study in Tobacco Control.
The impact is stronger for women, the study shows, and quashes the cherished notion that light smokers escape the serious health problems faced by heavier smokers.
The research, carried out by the National Health Screening Service and the Institute of Public Health, tracked the health and death rates of almost 43,000 men and women from the mid 1970s up to 2002. All the participants were aged between 35 and 49 at the start of the study, when they were screened for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Although a significant proportion of the light smokers increased their daily consumption, this had not exceeded 9 cigarettes a day. And almost as many had given up as had increased their consumption.
Taking account of risk factors likely to influence the findings, the data nevertheless showed that light smoking endangered health. The steepest risk occurred between nought and four cigarettes a day.
Compared with those who had never smoked, those who smoked between 1 and 5 cigarettes a day were almost three times as likely to die of coronary artery disease.
While there was little difference in the risk of dying from any type of cancer, this was not the case for lung cancer.
Men who were light smokers were almost three times as likely to be killed by lung cancer. And women were almost five times as likely to die of the disease as their non-smoking peers.
Light smokers also had significantly higher death rates from all causes – 1.5 times – than those who had never smoked, with the death rates corresponding to the number of cigarettes smoked every day.
As the light smokers had smoked for fewer years than the heavy smokers, the researchers analysed the projected impact of smoking at this level for five years.
This indicated that the risk of death from coronary artery disease would have been 7% higher, and the risk of lung cancer would have been 47% higher in women.
Smoking shortens women’s lives by up to seven years, according to new research in the UK.
It also reveals for the first time that smokers have around twice the risk of dying at any age compared with non-smokers.
And smoking is closing the gap between men and women’s life expectancy – cutting the longenjoyed advantage for women.
The grim toll taken by tobacco on the nation’s health is revealed in authoritative research from the Actuarial Profession.
Based on life insurance data covering millions of Britons, the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) shows that a 30-year-old male smoker can expect to survive 5.5 years less, reaching the age of 76.8, compared with over 82 for a non-smoker.
The outlook for young women smokers is worse – they can expect to have their lives shortened by 6.8 years, reaching 79 rather than 86 years.
The predictions come from four years of data on two-and-a-half million policyholders, of whom half a million smoked. There were 20,000 deaths, including 8,500 smokers. The findings could push insurance premiums higher still for smokers and will increase pressure for workplace tobacco bans.
Brian Ridsdale, chairman of the CMI, said: ‘These important new statistics provide further evidence – if it is needed – that smoking is not only bad for the quality of our lives but their quantity too.’
Deputy chairman, Professor Angus Macdonald, of Heriot-Watt University, said: ‘The historic difference between men and women is being overtaken by smoking. A reduction of more than six years is very significant.’ Since the mid-1980s life insurance proposal forms have asked applicants whether or not they smoke, meaning they are more reliable than information from death certificates which do not record smoking habits.
Mr Ridsdale said the new data probably underestimated the cut in life expectancy from smoking, because the non-smokers category included past smokers. Furthermore, the effects of passive smoking were not recorded.
The CMI data also assesses the chances of dying in any year for smokers and non-smokers.
It found a male smoker has a eight in 10,000 chance of dying at the age of 30 – double that of a non-smoker the same age. The risk continues to be twice as high at the age of 40 (12 versus 7), 50 (33 versus 16) and 60 (106 versus 48).
Women who smoke at the age of 30 have a four in 10,000 chance of dying, compared with a three in 10,000 chance for a non- smoker. The risk rises steadily, more than doubling by the age of 60 to 85 in 10,000 compared with 35 in 10,000 for a non-smoker.
Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, said: ‘These statistics are shocking but not surprising. Smoking significantly reduces life expectancy and kills many thousands of people in middle age every year.’
A new study in the Netherlands has shown that smoking adds ten years to a woman’s reproductive age.
A smoker aged 30 has the fertility of a 40-year-old, says the study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, which looked at 8,500 women, from 20 to over 40, who were having infertility treatment in the Netherlands.
Just one cigarette a day cuts the chances of becoming pregnant and increases the likelihood of a miscarriage.
Although it is accepted that smoking during pregnancy damages the unborn child, its affect on fertility was not totally clear until now. Approximately one in four women smoke and one in six couples has fertility problems.
The researchers looked at the number of successful IVF cycles and discovered that for smokers the chances of getting pregnant was 28 per cent lower than among non-smokers. The miscarriage rate for smokers was also higher – 21 per cent compared with 16 per cent.
Ovrweight women also had a 33 per cent lower rate of giving birth after their first cycle of treatment.
Professor Didi Braat, from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, who led the new research, said a smoker between 20 and 30 had the same chances of pregnancy as someone a full decade older.
SMOKING can lower your IQ and increases the risk of dementia later in life, experts warned yesterday.
Long-term smokers suffer significant damage to their memory and their ability to think quickly and solve problems.
Researchers warn that this may lead to difficulties in simple everyday tasks such as counting change – and may hasten the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Experts from Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities say the study offers the first conclusive evidence that cigarettes are bad for your intelligence as well as your physical health.
They believe that toxic chemicals in smoke get into the bloodstream and harm the blood vessels that provide the brain with vital oxygen supplies.
‘Our findings are significant because they show for the first time the long-term effect of smoking on cognitive ability,’ said Dr John Starr, of Edinburgh University. ‘The impact of smoking on the IQ of the people involved may appear small, but it will impair their quality of life.
‘They will experience niggly problems with any task that requires some sort of mental agility – whether that’s organising their daily life, remembering what to buy at the shops, doing crossword puzzles or playing bridge.’
In the study, detailed in New Scientist magazine today, researchers looked at 465 individuals, all of whom were born in 1936 and had taken part in the same IQ survey at the age of 11.
The team asked these people, around half of whom were former or current smokers, to take a series of five tests designed to measure their mental functioning and IQ between 2000 and
2002 when they were aged 64 on average.
After taking into account other factors which may influence their intelligence, such as education and alcohol consumption, the results showed that smokers tended to fare worse than non-smokers.
Professor Lawrence Whalley, of Aberdeen University, said that the smokers – who had been smoking for around 40 years on average – had experienced IQ reductions of around 2 per cent as a result of their habit.
Further analysis showed that when the effect of smoking on lung function was taken into account, the negative effect on IQ was around 4 per cent.
Scientists have previously shown that damaged lung function is associated with impaired mental ability, possibly because the brain is being fed less oxygen.
Professor Whalley said former smokers – most of whom had smoked for around ten years early in adulthood – also had slightly lower scores than nonsmokers.
He said the findings contradict the belief of some smokers that a nicotine rush can actually help boost their brain power.
He added: ‘Smokers are likely to be functioning at 2 per cent lower than if they had not smoked.
‘This becomes critical if you think of the decline you see in dementia – if you are starting from a lower point then it may come on earlier.’