Most smokers understand that picking up a cigarette and smoking is not doing their body any favors. That doesn’t stop them from smoking on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help their body in other ways.
If you are a smoker, and you are interested in reducing the impact cigarettes have on your body, exercise on a regular basis.
Smoking and Exercise
Smoking in general is going to make it more difficult for you to exercise. Not only does smoking make your lungs less effective, but it will make your heart feel the need to work harder than it normally would when you begin to move around.
These two reactions will make you feel fatigued quickly, if you have been a smoker for a long time.
The Benefits of Exercise
By exercising regularly, you will reduce the impact smoking has on your body. In the 2006 study displayed in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, two different groups of smokers were examined. The women who smoked and exercised regularly were found to be much less likely to develop lung cancer than the women who did not exercise.
Conflicting Interests
Smoking is clearly bad for your health, and exercise is clearly good for your health. While exercise will not eleiminate most of the damage smoking does to you, it does boost your body up to an improved level, as opposed to where it would be if you didn’t exercise.
A Stronger Body
Exercise will lower your cholesterol levels, while strengthening the lungs and the cardiovascular system. These areas are all affected by smoking, and since they are being increased by exercising, the negative impact of smoking is not going to be as apparent.
Exercising on a regular basis is not going to stop smoking from ruining your body, and eventually you could still end up with lung cancer, or emphysema. However, exercising will make you feel better while being a smoker than sitting still all the time will.
By taking the time to work hard every day, you can improve how you feel physically on a daily basis. If you are exercising because you want to become an athlete, you probably won’t have much luck competing with non-smokers. If you simply want to be able to get by in life comfortably, exercising regularly is going to go a long way to help make you feel less impaired by your addiction.
lorna says
Excellent article! I guess anything you do to promote health is going to have a positive impact on your overall health. Exercise, Diet, Stress reduction, Sleep, etc. I like the apporach, if someone isnt ready to give up, there are other things you can be doing….excellent
ecig blog says
To be honest all the exercise in the world is not going to mitigate the damage from cigarette smoke. They are full of carcinogens and fill your lungs with tar. reducing or quitting is going to give you the biggest benefit.
Will Ransom says
It wasn’t that many years ago, we would watch athletes smoking cigarettes on the sidelines. I remember seeing baseball players smoking a cigarette in the dugout and I also remember wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff of the Oakland Raiders smoking cigarettes on the sidelines. The best thing to do is quit smoking regular cigarettes and start using electronic cigarettes. You still get the nicotine but no smoke, tar or any of the other 4000 chemicals in your lungs. Just the fact your lungs will be feeling better, you will want to go out walking and possibly more exercising.
Katrine says
Smoking causes the hardening of arteries and plaque buildup. Normally it takes around a year of being smoke free to reduce by half the risk you run of coronary heart disease. With a balanced exercise program that includes a solid nutritional plan, this can be done in as little as one to two months.