Category: Tobacco

Health

Study: Quitting Smoking Improves Overall Personality

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Cessation of smoking certain will improve your dental health as well.

University of Missouri researchers have found evidence that shows those who quit smoking show improvements in their overall personality.

“The data indicate that for some young adults smoking is impulsive,” said Andrew Littlefield, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science. “That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards over long term negative consequences. They might say, ‘I know smoking is bad for me, but I’m going to do it anyway.’ However, we find individuals who show the most decreases in impulsivity also are more likely quit smoking. If we can target anti-smoking efforts at that impulsivity, it may help the young people stop smoking.”

In the study, MU researchers compared people, aged 18-35, who smoked with those who had quit smoking. They found that individuals who smoked were higher in two distinct personality traits during young adulthood:

  •     impulsivity — acting without thinking about the consequences
  •     neuroticism — being emotionally negative and anxious, most of the time

Littlefield found that those with higher levels of impulsivity and neuroticism were more likely to engage in detrimental behaviors, such as smoking. However, Littlefield also found that those who quit smoking had the biggest declines in impulsivity and neuroticism from ages 18 to 25.

“Smokers at age 18 had higher impulsivity rates than non-smokers at age 18, and those who quit tended to display the steepest declines in impulsivity between ages 18 and 25,” Littlefield said. “However, as a person ages and continues to smoke, smoking becomes part of a regular behavior pattern and less impulsive. The motives for smoking later in life — habit, craving, loss of control and tolerance — are key elements of smoking dependence and appear to be more independent of personality traits.”

So, how about it?

Do yourself a favor and quit. Physicians and dentists can help you with a smoking cessation program.

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Health

Study: Cigarette Smoking Causes More Aterial Damage in Women

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According to a new study.

The harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis, one of the driving forces of cardiovascular disease, are greater in women than in men.

This result emerges from the large European epidemiological study (Carotid Intima Media thickness and IMT-PROgression as predictors of Vascular Events: the IMPROVE study), funded by EU (Vth Framework Program — Contract n. QLG1-CT-2002-00896). In the IMPROVE study, authors examined 1694 men and 1893 women from Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, France and Italy, and used ultrasound technology to assess the presence of wall thickening and plaques in the carotids, the arteries that bring blood to the brain.

The research shows that the amount tobacco exposure during the entire life significantly correlates with the thickness of carotid arterial walls (an index of atherosclerosis) in both genders. However, the impact is more than doubled in women than in men. Similarly, the effect of the number of cigarettes smoked per day on the progression of the disease over time is more than five-fold in women than in men. These associations are independent from other factors that may affect atherosclerosis, such as age, blood pressure, cholesterol level, obesity and social class.

Elena Tremoli, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Milan, Italy, and scientific director of the Monzino Cardiology Centre in Milan who led the study, says: “This is a particular relevant finding, especially in view of the fact that educational campaigns carried out in the last years have been less successful in reducing the number of smokers in women than in men.”

According to WHO, while in most European countries a significant proportion of men has quit smoking, in many countries (e.g. Italy and Finland) the percentage of women smokers remained roughly constant in the last three decades, whereas in others (France, Spain) it even increased.

“The reasons for the stronger effect of tobacco smoke on women’s arteries are still unknown, but some hints may come from the complex interplay between smoke, inflammation and atherosclerosis,” says Prof. Tremoli.

Researchers found that other factors, besides smoking, have a differential effect on the arteries of men and women. One of these is education, a well known index of social class: while men who have studied less showed a greater thickening of arterial walls than those who have studied more, the same was not true for women. Similarly, women, in contrast with men, seem to be protected against the harmful effects of systemic inflammation. Indeed, in the IMPROVE study, the relation between arterial wall thickening and the levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and white blood cells (WBC) counts, two indexes of inflammation, is very strong in men, but absent in women.

“It is important to mention, however, that, when women smoke they lose their protection against the harmful effect of inflammation. In particular, if we stratify the female population according to smoking habits, we see that in the group of women who smoke, especially in heavy smokers, the relationship between CRP and arterial wall thickening becomes similar to that observed in men,” says Prof. Tremoli.

“We all know that women are ‘naturally’ protected against cardiovascular disease, particularly before menopause, and this has led to less attention of health professionals and researchers in regard to this disease in women.

Women, who for some reason appear to be less vigilant about heart disease, should take this study to their own heart. If you smoke, you have an increased risk of heart disease – more than the men.

So, stop smoking!

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Obesity

America’s Anti-Cigarette Campaign is Massively Failing

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Failing by a mile, according to a new study.

CDC incidence data released yesterday showed a big whiff in the government’s anti-tobacco campaign.

Although the number of daily smokers declined to 19.3 percent from 21 percent in 2005, this represented the slowest decline in 40 years. Going forward the CDC predicts a disappointing 200 basis point decline over the next ten years.

A rate near 18% will miss the Healthy 2020 target of 12% by a longshot.

Citi issued a report this morning calling the new data bullish for the industry, in which the bank prefers Lorillard and Reynolds American. Analyst Vivien Azer said the anti-tobacco campaign is running out of steam:

“The lack of progress we have seen in  educing smoking in the U.S. is nothing new, and is something the government saw coming. Recall, graphic warnings are set to be introduced in the U.S. in September 2012, and despite these efforts, the impact on smoking is expected to be minimal. While further tax hikes or increased restrictions should be expected, these take time to implement, such that we believe there is little near-term risk of accelerating cigarette industry volumes declines in the U.S.”

Yuk!

There needs to be a better education program, involving social media, rather than trying to scare smokers straight.

Obesity and smoking are two preventable downers for American’s heath.

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Health

College Campuses Tell Smokers to Get Lost

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Smoke-Free college campuses are a good thing.

This summer, a group of University of Kentucky students and staff has been patrolling campus grounds — scouting out any student, employee or visitor lighting a cigarette.

Unlike hall monitors who cite students for bad behavior, the Tobacco-free Take Action! volunteers approach smokers, respectfully ask them to dispose of the cigarette and provide information about quit-smoking resources available on campus.

The University of Kentucky is one of more than 500 college campuses across the country that have enacted 100% smoke-free or tobacco-free policies as of July 1. Although policy enforcement varies from school to school, most prohibit smoking on all campus grounds, including athletic stadiums, restaurants and parking lots.

An increasing number of colleges adopted smoke-free or tobacco-free policies in the past few years, according to American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation Project Manager Liz Williams. In the past year alone, 120 campuses were added to the smoke-free list.

Good for them and let’s lower the smoking rate even further – for better health.

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Health

Is Snuff or Cigarettes Worse for a Pregnant Mother?

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In a new study, the answer is snuff.

Babies born to snuff-using mothers were more likely to have breathing problems than those whose moms smoked cigarettes while pregnant, in new data from Sweden.

Snuff — ground tobacco that is high in nicotine but doesn’t generate the same additional chemicals as cigarette smoke because it’s not burned — is generally assumed be safer than cigarettes, said the authors of the new study.

That’s still the case for many people — but it’s not a good option for pregnant women, according to Dr. Anna Gunnerbeck, the lead researcher from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The smokeless tobacco “may have a little bit different effect than smoking, because smoking has the combustion products, but it’s still not safe during pregnancy,” Gunnerbeck told Reuters Health.

These tobacco products are just bad news for a healthy lifestyle. Don’t smoke or use snuff – especially if you are pregnant.

Just say no!

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