SmokersFitness.com

An essential health resource for current and former smokers

SmokersFitness.com - An essential health resource for current and former smokers

Category Archives: Illnesses and Complications

Hookah Research Results

The vast amount of research on smoking has been done on the harms of cigarettes, presumably because they’re the most common form of tobacco use and probably the most harmful. Recently, hookahs have become more popular, especially amongst college age people. In addition, in the Middle East and other parts of the world, hookahs are very popular. Some people are under the impression that hookahs are a safe alternative to cigarettes. They believe that the water filters out a lot of the harmful chemicals in hookahs and that whatever the water doesn’t get, the charcoal will get rid of.

Blue glass hookah

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many studies done on the health effects of hookahs. Although it’s generally agreed that the volume of smoke per hookah session is quite high (in fact, one 40 minute session can result in inhaling as much smoke as dozens upon dozens of cigarettes), the fact that the tobacco is not heated to as high of a temperature as in a cigarette may result in a lower amount of exposure to toxic compounds.

A recent study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention compared the amount of nicotine and various carcinogens inhaled via hookah versus cigarettes, and found that while those who used hookahs had significantly less exposure to nicotine and certain carcinogens, levels of carbon monoxide and carcinogens such as benzene were higher. Benzene exposure for example is linked to the development of leukemia.

The study didn’t measure hard outcomes (i.e. it didn’t compare rates of cancer, heart disease, etc. between hookah users to those that smoke cigarettes). In fact, there aren’t any good, long-term head to head studies addressing this.

A 2010 review from the International Journal of Epidemiology did show that hookah smokers had more than double the risk of developing lung cancer, respiratory infections, and low birth weight babies, and 3 to 5 times the risk of having periodontal disease compared with nonsmokers. Of note, risks of throat and bladder cancers were not higher (which is the case in cigarette users).

The bottom line is that at this time, it’s unclear if hookah smoking is any better than smoking cigarettes. And even if it is, it certainly isn’t a safe habit, exposing the body to many harmful substances and increasing the risk of developing lung cancer and other diseases.

So if you do currently smoke a hookah as a safe alternative to cigarettes, quit, and take up a healthier habit (join a gym, play sports, take up gardening etc.)

- Tamir

(Image credit: Psych Central)

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Heart-healthy habits can also decrease the risk of cancer

The American Heart Association came out with a list of 7 recommendations (named Life’s Simple 7) to attempt to increase heart health in the United States. These recommendations (in no particular order) are:

1. Being physically active
2. Maintaining a healthy weight
3. Eating a healthy diet
4. Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels
5. Keeping blood pressure down
6. Regulating blood sugar levels
7. Not smoking

In a study published in the March 18th edition of the American Heart Association journal, the authors found that adhering to the above guidelines significantly reduced the risk of developing cancer as well. Specifically, of the 13,000 or so people who were followed for 17-19 years, those that adapted 6-7 of the guidelines had a 51% reduced risk of developing cancer, those that followed 4 had a 33% lower risk, those that followed 3 had a roughly 25% risk, and even those who followed a couple of the recommendations had a 21% reduced risk.

Even when smoking was taken out of the equation (since smoking is one of the biggest contributors to many different cancers), people who adopted 5-6 of the recommendations had a 25% lower risk of developing cancer.

What is the take home message? Obviously, if you smoke, then quit. However, as you can see from the above study, adopting other healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a healthy diet, exercising, watching your weight, etc. can make a big impact, not just with respect to heart disease, but with cancer as well. So even if you cannot quit at present, or choose not to, then at least improve your health in other ways.

- Tamir

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Are you getting enough sleep?

In today’s busy world, insufficient sleep is quite prevalent. Although many of us don’t think much of it, people who on a regular basis get too little sleep (less than 6 hours a night; 7-8 hours is ideal for most adults), are at a significantly higher risk of having many different disorders, both physical and mental.

Coffee is sometimes not enough

We all know that too little sleep will make us tired and perhaps more irritable. However, it is not well known that in addition, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to obesity (through stimulation of the production of ghrelin, a substance in the body that causes hunger, and suppression of leptin, which causes feelings of satiety), diabetes, high blood pressure (possibly through the release of stress hormones), premature death, heart disease, increased susceptibility to catching colds and other infections (through suppressed immune function), stunted growth in children and adolescents, and even depression.

A recent study published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds some additional light as to the mechanisms behind these adverse health outcomes. The study showed that in sleep-deprived volunteers, hundreds of genes regulating many processes in the body, including those involved in metabolism, inflammation, immune function, and stress response were negatively affected. Although the study was small and of short duration, and does not per se “prove” that lack of sleep harms the body, it offers corroborative evidence to a growing body of literature regarding chronic sleep deprivation and poor health.

So next time you want to stay up and watch the Late Late Late Night Show or some obscure 1980′s movie playing at 1 am, jump into bed instead – your body will thank you for it.

-Tamir

(The image links back to its source: Weight Matters.)

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Get up and move!

We dedicate an entire chapter in our book to exercise and its numerous benefits. We also mention how in addition to formal exercise, lack of movement in and of itself has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, premature death, and certain cancers. In fact, some studies show the association of sitting time with poor health outcomes to be as strong as that of smoking or morbid obesity.

Don't use a 'reaching broom.' Just get up.

Don’t use a ‘reaching broom.’ Just get up.

Recently, a new study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity adds further evidence to the harms of excessive sitting. The study followed over 60,000 middle aged men, and concluded that those who sat for over 8 hours a day (which sounds like a lot of us) had a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases compared to those who sat fewer than 4 hours a day.

Obviously, if you do have a sedentary job, I’m not suggesting that you quit it (although if a more active type of job comes up with similar pay, benefits, and satisfaction, then it would perhaps be a good idea to switch). Rather, you should try to incorporate as much physical activity during the day as you can. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park farther away. If possible, pace around while on the phone. Take short breaks to walk around, stretch, etc. If you do smoke, and do not wish to quit, then at least walk around during your cigarette break instead of sitting at your desk or on a bench.

Other studies have shown that even people who have a set time that they devote to exercise such as a session at the gym or a jog had poorer health if for the rest of the day they mostly sat. So don’t develop a false sense of security if you fall under that category. The bottom line is to stay as active as possible throughout the entire day.

- Tamir

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Further evidence that it’s never too late to quit

In our book, A Smoker’s Guide to Health & Fitness, as well as in several of our blog posts, we emphasize over and over again how important it is to quit, no matter how long you have been smoking.

A recent study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, which followed close to 9,000 people aged 50-74 for close to a decade, adds further evidence to the benefits of smoking cessation in even long-time smokers. As expected, compared to non-smokers, current smokers had an over twofold risk of suffering a heart attack or a stroke after adjustment for other risk factors such as presence of diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, alcohol use, etc.

Current smoking advanced the chance of a heart attack by 19 years and that of a stroke by almost 10 years (i.e., a 60 year old smoker would have roughly the same risk of suffering a heart attack as a 79 year old non-smoker, and the same risk of having a stroke as a 70 year old non-smoker).

What was remarkable was that despite the fact that the smokers in this study had been smoking for many years (as mentioned above, the study included people from the ages of 50 to 74) those who quit during the study had a 40% less chance of having a heart attack or stroke, and roughly 5 years after quitting, most of the excess risk was mitigated.

So once again . . . quit – it’s never too late.

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The Harms of Calcium Supplements

Something we discuss in our book is how for most people, calcium supplements do not have any specific benefit, even with respect to prevention of osteoporosis (weak thin bones). Obtaining sufficient calcium from a healthy diet IS important for bone health and other processes in the body, but we mentioned how calcium supplements may in some cases increase the risk of kidney stones, and we discussed a few studies showing a mildly increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in middle-aged to older women who regularly consume calcium supplements.

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that this increased risk of heart disease seems to hold true in men as well. Men who took over 1000 mg daily of supplemental calcium (not an unusual dose in those who consume such supplements) had a roughly 20% increased risk of dying from heart disease.

What’s the difference between getting calcium from a supplement as opposed to one’s natural diet?

The authors speculate that the high levels of calcium that enter the bloodstream after consumption of calcium supplements may lead to calcification of blood vessels, including those that supply blood to the heart. Calcium deposits in those vessels are directly related to the risk of having significant heart disease. There may be other mechanisms at play as well. In contrast, when one consumes calcium rich foods, the calcium slowly enters the body as the food is digested, and doesn’t cause spikes in the blood levels of calcium.

The bottom line is to obtain your daily calcium needs through a healthy diet containing calcium rich foods (sardines, dairy, sesame seeds, leafy vegetables, almonds, beans). If your diet is absolutely atrocious (and you have no desire to improve it), or if your doctor advises you to take supplements because of certain medical problems, my advice is to avoid large amounts (eg 500 to 1000 mg) at one shot; instead, take lower doses (200 to 250 mg) several times a day.

Lastly, don’t forget that in order to strengthen one’s bones, in addition to calcium, it is also important to engage in regular weight-bearing exercise, consume sufficient amounts of vitamin D, magnesium, and potassium, avoid excessive salt, and, of course, quit smoking.

- Tamir

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A look at the average lifespan of smokers, including those who quit

On average, how much does smoking shorten your life span? And does it matter when you quit?

CBS news - Dangers of Smoking

In our book, A Smoker’s Guide to Health and Fitness, we threw around different numbers regarding how much smoking reduces one’s life. As you all know, smokers have a much higher chance of developing many different life threatening conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, and different cancers. We quoted estimates in our book of anywhere between 6 and 14 years of life lost in smokers versus nonsmokers.

A very large study just published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, on over 200,000 people showed that current smokers die roughly 10 years sooner than nonsmokers (again, depending on how much they smoke and for how long). Former smokers, depending on when they quit, fall somewhere in between.

Those who quit between the ages of 25 to 35 regained those 10 years back, compared to those who continued to smoke. Those who quit between the ages of 35 to 44 gained 9 years of life compared to those who continued to smoke, and those who quit between the ages of 45 to 54 gained 6 years of life.

I think the take home message from all this is obviously not to smoke; however, if you do smoke, quitting at a young age mitigates most of the harmful effects of having smoked. Furthermore, even if you smoked for many years, quitting still seems to return some of those years that you would have lost had you continued to smoke.

I do want to mention one last caveat: life is a game of probability, and these studies discuss how many years of life people lose on average. For the individual, depending on his or her individual genetic make up and other lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise (or lack thereof), these numbers may be radically different. For example, a 34 year old man who smokes heavily and also has a very strong family history of heart disease at a young age, eats a very poor diet, doesn’t exercise, and has a stressful job, may indeed suffer a heart attack at 35. Therefore, do not delude yourself into thinking that because you are young, you can keep on smoking for now without any serious harm, and you do not have to worry about quitting or otherwise improving your lifestyle until later on. Although this may hold true for many people, one never knows, so why take a chance?

- Tamir

(Image links back to its source: CBS news)

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Do vitamin C supplements increase the risk of kidney stones in men?

In our book, A Smoker’s Guide to Health and Fitness, we mention how many of the vitamin supplements that people consume daily – and spend a lot of money on – are for the most part a waste of money (on the other hand, obtaining vitamins naturally through a healthy diet IS beneficial). We discussed how in some cases, certain vitamin supplements may even cause harm.

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine adds further evidence to this assertion. This well-done study followed thousands of middle-aged to older men for 11 years, and showed that those who regularly took vitamin C supplements had double the rate of developing kidney stones compared to those who did not take such supplements. This has to do with the manner in which vitamin C is excreted from the body. At the high doses found in many supplements (500 – 1000 mg), the excretion process may lead to the formation of calcium oxalate stones, which are the most frequent type of kidney stones.

Kidney stones

Kidney stones, aside from being excruciatingly painful, may also in some situations lead to kidney damage. Most people who take vitamin C do so to boost their immune system to ward off colds and other infections. However, as we discussed in our book, the effect of vitamin C on the frequency of developing a cold or the severity of cold symptoms is, for the vast majority of the population, negligible. It is much better to boost the immune system through healthier, well established methods such as a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, adequate sleep, stress reduction, and, of course, smoking cessation.

- Tamir

(The image links back to its source: CelebrityDiagnosis.com)

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The Myth of “Light Smoking”

Many smokers who are “light” or “social” smokers, that is, they smoke very few cigarettes a day, are under the mistaken impression that it’s not so harmful. As I mentioned in our book, A Smoker’s Guide to Health and Fitness, although the risk of developing certain smoking related illnesses such as lung cancer and emphysema IS certainly lower in such smokers, the risk of other problems such as heart attacks is still MUCH higher than in nonsmokers.

This recent study of over 100,000 nurses followed for many years showed that the risk of sudden cardiac death – dying from the heart suddenly stopping to work, was quite high even in those women who smoked 1-14 cigarettes daily. Every five years of light smoking increased this risk by 8% (which may not seem terribly high, but given the fact that many people smoke for decades it ends up being quite significant). The good news is that after quitting, this risk starts to go down, and after many years is pretty much back to the level of a person who has never smoked.

- Tamir

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Get a flu shot – the flu can hit smokers extra hard

Medical experts recommend that EVERYONE from the age of 6 months and up receive a flu vaccine every year. This is especially true for those of you who smoke, since smokers often have worse complications from the flu.

Many areas around the country are already witnessing many cases of the flu, and unfortunately, one of the strains circulating is a more aggressive, dangerous type that killed many more people the last time it reared its ugly head. Fortunately, this year’s vaccine does cover that strain, as well as most of the other ones going around. Even if you received the flu shot last year, it’s still important to get vaccinated this year as well. Unlike many other diseases for which we are immunized, such as measles, diphtheria, and chicken pox, the flu virus mutates, and there are often different strains going around from year to year – therefore, last year’s vaccine is insufficient to protect you this year. In addition, it can take up to 2 or so weeks to achieve effective immunity from the vaccine, so the sooner you go get vaccinated the better.

- Tamir

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