Smoking and Fitness

by: AimyD
Total views: 23 | Word Count: 714

We have all heard the spill about “smoking being bad for you”, or “it causes cancer”, and so on. Smoking is so addictive because of the nicotine in cigarettes. People continue to smoke even after hearing how bad it is for you, because they are hooked on it, and find it difficult to quit.

Smoking causes premature skin wrinkles, bad breath, clothes that smell of smoke, yellow hair and yellow fingernails. Smoking also puts you at a higher risk for macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness for the elderly.
Women have a higher risk of health problems than men. If a woman is over 35 and using birth control and smokes more than 10 cigarettes a day, she is in a higher risk group for heart attacks, strokes and blood clots in the legs. Miscarriages and lower birth-weight for babies are also common problems for female smokers.

The US Center for Disease Control estimates that women who smoke lose 14.5 years of life on average and men lose 13.2 years of life. If you quit smoking before you are 50, the risk of dying by 65 is sliced in half, compared with smokers who don’t quit. Ex-smokers will live longer and have a higher quality of life, fewer sicknesses such as cold and flu viruses and lesser rates of pneumonia and bronchitis.

The US Surgeon General has stated:
“Quitting smoking has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Benefits apply to people with and without smoking-related disease.

Former smokers live longer than continuing smokers.

Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.
Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.

The health benefits of quitting smoking far exceed any risks from the less than 10 pound weight gain or any adverse psychological effects that may follow quitting.”

Smoking is hard on your lungs and will reduce your fitness level dramatically. If you quit smoking you will feel more energetic and have a higher fitness level. Also, you will reduce the chance of lung cancer, mouth cancer, and other smoking related diseases. Trying to work out after smoking even one cigarette will cause lack of motivation, fatigue, and a harder time finishing your workout. Fatigue has been the worst because you want to be able to skim through your workout at a fast pace and get on with your day. If you are smoking before your workout you are unable to finish. With smoking, you stand little chance of having a productive workout and even if you do have a productive one, you will still have to worry about the other factors as well.

Quitting smoking would be a wise thing to do if you are generally an active person.

To quit smoking you need a couple things: The first thing you need is motivation. Why do you want to quit in the first place? Secondly, you need a positive support cast joining a quit smoking forum online and get advice from other successful quitters are only a couple examples. You can also purchase stop smoking aids such as nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and supplements such as Smoke Away, Stop Smoking Tea, Vitamin C, and L-Taurine. You can also have your doctor prescribe you Lyban if your smoking habit is severe enough.

Avoiding people who preach the notion that smoking helps you lose weight is also wise. Smoking only depresses your appetite making you not want to eat as much. To avoid this problem, always stay active! Don’t hang around with people who smoke because the influence will make you want to light up. Do something that will keep your mind occupied and if a negative emotion hits you, let it out with exercising. You should be doing that anyways!

Lastly, smoking is your choice. If you are comfortable smoking and trying to maintain an active lifestyle more power to you. For those of you who wish to quit smoking to maintain a healthier lifestyle, even more power to you. Good luck with quitting, you know you can do it, all you have to do is put your mind to it, and STAY WITH IT.