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Smoking and The Human Body Essay examples

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Smoking is a bad habit which plagues the young, as well as the old. It is the largest source of preventable mortality in North America1. Not only does smoking lead to an early grave, but it can also influence one's daily life. Many studies have revealed links between smoking and reduced endurance capacity2. Nicotine, the addictive agent found in cigarettes, can also be used to control weight gain.

Both of these factors can have considerable effect on the sporting world. There have been many studies done, indicating that if you smoked, you did less physical activity. It has also been shown that the more you smoke, the less activity you do. In one experiment done on smokers and non-smokers, the subjects were tested while running a …show more content…

Many sports and activities require the athlete to do notable amounts of work and expend a fair amount of energy.

When an athlete smokes, they will not be able to get the required oxygen to the necessary parts of the body, and therefore will not perform as well. It has been proven that even if you have smoked, when you quit smoking your levels of physical activity will increase8. When taking a glimpse of all the top athletes in the world, it can be noted that none of them are frequent tobacco product users. Another aspect of smoking and the human body is the effect of nicotine on body weight. Nicotine, the drug found in cigarettes, is usually what tends to get smokers addicted to tobacco products. Through many different experiments, it has been shown that smokers tend to weigh less than non- smokers9.

These tests were done not only by measurement of weight, but by multiple skinfold thickness assessments. In a study done on rats, it was determined that nicotine exposed rats had significantly less carcass fat, suggesting that nicotine effects fat stores. The more nicotine which was given, the less fat the rats had. It was hypothesized that nicotine effected these fat stores was by altering key enzymes in the regulation and uptake of triglycerides such as adipose-tissue lipoprotein lipase10. When dealing with humans, one study found that smokers had 2.8% lower total body fat than non-smokers11.

During the process of

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