A French study released on Monday revealed that, in addition to the obvious physical risks, smoking comes with considerable mental health risks as well.
The study, conducted by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Villejuif, France, suggests that smokers are more likely to be prone to memory problems than non-smokers are upon reaching middle age. Additionally, this study has stirred up debate on the effects of smokers developing dementia, a condition that is known to be rare among middle-aged people. However, cognitive function in middle age is proven to be closely related to dementia, and the results of this study show that smoking leads to a decline in cognition over within five years.
During the study, researchers collected health data from 10,308 British residents between the ages of 35 and 55. The participants were all civil servants who were enrolled in the Whitehall II study. Twice during the study (once between 1985 and 1988 and again in 1997 and 1999), the participants were asked about their smoking habits. A total of 5,400 people finished memory, reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency tests in 1999, and 4,659 participants were retested five years later. Unsurprisingly, the first round’s results indicated that those who smoked ranked in the lowest 20 percent of everyone tested.
The good news from this study is that the participants who were ex-smokers proved to be 30 percent less likely to have low verbal frequency and poor vocabulary skills than current smokers. Additionally, the study indicated that it’s not too late for smokers to lower their overall health risks, as ex-smokers proved to drink less alcohol, eat more fruit and vegetables and get more exercise.
On a related note, also in the news this week, researchers around the U.S. are following up on numerous clues that indicate exercise may help prevent substance abuse as a whole-something the U.S. government is pushing for research to prove. The best evidence it has found so far is an experiment conducted by Brown University, in which smokers were sent to the gym three times a week and learned that adding physical activity to programs on quitting smoking doubled the chances of female smokers having success in kicking this habit. Additionally, these ex-smokers gained 50 percent less weight than women who are successful in quitting smoking without incorporating exercise into their routines.
Research is also showing lesser-known benefits of exercise for America’s youth as well, which will hopefully help reduce the U.S.’s childhood obesity epidemic. The National Institute on Drug Abuse conducted a study that found that children and teenagers who exercise on a daily basis are 50 percent less likely to smoke cigarettes and 40 percent less likely to try marijuana than children who don’t work out at all. Exercise is also known to positively impact mood and academic performance because it rewards the brain systems that can be easily taken over through drug abuse, because exercise relieves stress much like mild antidepressants-an obvious trade-off, since stress, anxiety, depression and alcoholism are often triggered by substance abuse or smoking.
I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and I am certainly not surprised to learn of yet another health risk associated with smoking. Sadly, if the ubiquitous knowledge of cancer risks associated with smoking isn’t enough to convince current smokers to quit this disgusting habit, I doubt these new studies will have a lasting impact, either. (As Dr. Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association stated to U.S. News and World Report, “Are they [smokers] stupid because they smoke, or do they smoke because they are stupid?”) If anything, let’s hope that this study produces more results in the nation’s ever-growing smoking bans, because as a summer resident of Manhattan, I know I could stand to deal with fewer rude New York City pedestrians blowing cigarette smoke in my face as I walk to work every morning.
Emilia Benton is a senior print journalism student. You may e-mail her at [email protected].