Smoking Doesn’t Mix With Health and Fitness
People have been using tobacco for centuries. There are many artistic depictions of the Columbus era Indians smoking tobacco in pipes, but it’s use has been documented to go back as far as 1500 BC in Mexico. Tobacco use is widespread throughout the world, even in this day and age, despite all that we know of the negative health threats that it poses to us.
Tobacco can be used in a variety of ways, from smoking cigarettes, pipes, and cigars, to chewing it, or dipping, as it’s called, to snuss, paste, and so on. In the sports world, it’s very common to see baseball players on every level from the professionals, down to the minors, using chewing tobacco. It’s also seen occasionally in professional football, etc, and some athletes, believe it or not, smoke.
Since tobacco has been implicated in thousands upon thousands of deaths ranging in causes from lung cancer, mouth and throat cancer, emphysema, etc, it was back in 2008 branded the most avoidable cause of death by the World Health Organization. In fact, 1 out of every 5 deaths in the United States, has been linked to the use of tobacco products. Obviously, it’s bad for your health, but somehow, athletes continue to use it, especially in the smokeless varieties, so what effect can tobacco have on health and fitness?
Aside from the fact that tobacco contains almost 70 carcinogens, it also decreases the body’s store of high density level (HDL) cholesterol, which is what we use to keep the artery blocking low density level (LDL) cholesterol in check. This leads to a buildup of what is called plaque in the arterial walls, and leads to heart disease.
Athletes who smoke are doing their bodies a great disservice, as the chemicals in the tobacco are destroying their cardiovascular capabilities, causing higher blood pressure than non smokers, as well as making themselves prone to shortness of breath due to carbon monoxide levels in their blood, which obviously, doesn’t bode well for athletic performance. When there is a shortness of breath, muscles and organs are starved for oxygen, as is the rest of the body, and therefore, those aforementioned muscles are incapable of functioning at their maximum levels, thus resulting in sub par athletic performance.
Quitting any kind of tobacco use is certainly one of the most challenging things you will likely ever have to do in your lifetime, should you be addicted to it. Mark Twain, in fact, had a great quote about it. He wrote, “quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it hundreds of times”. While his witty antidote is a humorous ridden perspective on the realities of the challenges that lie within the task of quitting smoking, the actual process itself is far from fun, or funny. It is, however, one of the best gifts you can give to yourself, especially if you are ready to start working out, eating better, and getting stronger and healthier.
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Andy
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