Thanks to Surgeon General's
Warning labels, public smoking bans, strict regulation of advertising, excise
taxes, and public service messages, nearly everyone in America is fully aware
of the many health risks associated with cigarette smoking. Ongoing research
has continuously proven that smoking causes lung dysfunction, cancer, SIDS, heart
disease, birth defects, preterm birth, and other serious health problems.
Knowing this, the idea that cigarette smoking may offer health benefits
may seem utterly absurd.
However,
cigarette smoking has been confirmed to provide numerous benefits to the health
of smokers. Surprisingly, the tobacco plant appears to have more to offer our
bodies than a guarantee of certain death. Although the health benefits of
smoking are far outweighed by the many very dire risks, tobacco may provide
alternative relief or prevention for some diseases in certain individuals.
The most
fascinating and widely recognized health benefit of smoking is its ability to
seemingly alleviate symptoms of mental illnesses, including anxiety and
schizophrenia. According to an article published in 1995 in Neuroscience &
Biobehavioral Reviews, schizophrenics have much higher smoking rates than
people with other mental illnesses, and appear to use it as a method of
self-medicating. The article postulates that nicotine found in cigarettes
reduces psychiatric, cognitive, sensory, and physical effects of schizophrenia,
and also provides relief of common side effects from antipsychotic drugs.
The
treatment of schizophrenia isn't the only positive effect that nicotine has on
the brain. A series of very interesting studies from multiple academic sources
confirms that the risk of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease is
surprisingly higher in non-smokers than in smokers. Doctor Laura Fratiglioni of
Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden states, "Cigarette smokers are 50%
less likely to have PD or AD than are age- and gender-matched nonsmokers [...]
cigarette smoking exerts an undefined, biologic, neuroprotective influence
against the development of PD and AD."
The
University of Melbourne confirmed the claims made by many smokers that tobacco
itself is a strong appetite suppressant, and many use it to self-treat
compulsive overeating disorders or obesity. Many smokers experience weight loss
and decreased appetite after they begin smoking, and the Melbourne study found
similar results in lab rats and mice exposed to cigarette smoke. While
tobacco-influenced pharmaceuticals may at some point be an available option to
treat obesity, smoking as a self-treatment is very ill-advised, since the
negative effects of tobacco and obesity tend to compound and create
interrelated conditions.
Cigarette
smoking has also been linked to a decrease in risk of certain inflammatory
disorders, since nicotine itself appears to be an anti-inflammatory agent. The
department of gastroenterology at the University Hospital of Wales conducted a
number of in-vitro studies to confirm and explain the decreased risk in ulcerative
colitis (a potentially severe digestive disorder) in individuals who smoke
cigarettes.
Perhaps
most shockingly, tobacco smoke's anti-inflammatory effects may actually provide
some benefits to children who are exposed to secondhand smoke. While this is certainly
not worth at-home experimentation, one astonishing study conducted in Sweden
observed two generations of Swedish children and found that the children of
smokers had lower rates of allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, atopic eczema,
and food allergies. The studied groups included 6909 adults and 4472 children,
and the findings remained consistent, even when adjusted to reflect other
variables.
Other
surprising academic findings reveal that tobacco may have a positive effect on
pregnancy, although this, too, should not be left up to individual
experimentation. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology revealed that preeclampsia, an extremely common but potentially
deadly condition, is significantly less common in expectant mothers who smoke
cigarettes than in expectant mothers who do not smoke.
While it
is undebated that tobacco cigarettes pose a number of deadly hazards to human
health, they also reveal a surprising link to decreased mortality and morbidity
for some conditions. While it may be interesting to note tobacco's few
benefits, it is also critical for all consumers to recognize that its positive
aspects are few compared to its many very serious risks. Even taking the health
benefits of smoking into account, tobacco smokers can expect to live shorter
lives and experience many chronic diseases.
If you
believe you have, or are at risk for, a medical condition that can be treated
or prevented with tobacco use, do not use this as a reason to begin
smoking or to avoid smoking cessation. However, talk to your doctor about
pharmaceutical or botanical solutions that may yield similar benefits, without
the risks associated with tobacco. Emerging research may soon reveal an ability
to synthesize and isolate the few positive chemicals in cigarettes and use them
to manufacture new treatment options.
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