Smoking and Running

myHeartyHeart.com >> Heart Disease Talk >> Smoking and Running

Save money on Medications - TheDrugCompany.com

Question:

When I was on vacation in one country they had a very effective stop smoking campaign: a pictures of tar coated lungs with an announcer saying, "Cigaret smoking deposits 1.5 liters of tar in your lungs every year." I suspect that it is the tar which gets you more than the nicotine. I mean with all the tar, how’s any air supposed to get into the aveolae? Louis M. Green

Response:

: : I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this: I run about 25K a week and : I smoke about a pack a day. I realize that this is unusual but, it doe : doesn’t seem to affect me to any considerable extent. Also, are : there any other runners out there who smoke (or want to admit it)? : : Hrvoje Malovich : Without commenting on smoking per se, my thought is, how do you know that the smoking isn’t affecting you to ‘any considerable extent’? It strikes me that you would only be able to tell by stopping for an appropriate amount of time and measuring the effect. I strongly believe you will notice something… good luck in any case! Mike — Western District | Voice: 604-273-2711

Response:

I guess I won’t admit it, but as a smoker for the last 15 years, and one who has taken to running, I also have run up to 30 miles a week and can definitely say, it affects you!!! How do you know? Well, take your heart rate every morning for 2 weeks, and look at your resting heart rate. Then go out and run at 60% of your ’supposed’ max heart rate. Take a look at how hard it is… and then take your heart rate at whatever you find is a ‘comfortable’ pace. Then, stop smoking (yeah, right) and continue running every other day, 2, 3, 4 miles. Take your heart rate at what seems to be the same ‘comfortable pace’. After about a month of this, you will probably notice a ’significant’ reduction in both your resting heart rate and the rate at which you ‘comfortably’ exercise. (this, from having done just what I am recommending). In my case, I started, as a 35 yr old 155lb male with a resting heart rate of around 72 bpm. I exercise at 60% of my max (150-160) with no problem, and my heart rate is around 175 when I crank – but this is only a 8:30 mile. I KNOW that if I quit smoking (make that WHEN I quit smoking) that my resting heart rate is between 50 and 60 bpm and I have run 7:45 miles with a rate of only 75 bpm. Now if that doesn’t mean that the body is getting more efficient then I don’t know what does.!! Now for the real issue, I would venture that 95% + of those who frequent this newsgroup don’t smoke (help me out here gang). I would love to quit, but, and, I struggle because it is a severe addiction, one that even I have trouble shaking. The issue is not that I can’t cognitively deal with it, no problem, there is plenty of evidence, but the other issues are a real struggle. Realize that this is a serious addiction, one that often needs serious remedies (I’m trying hard and still have trouble most of the time). Get involved with a group, and keep up the running, but by all means, get yourself to a doctor, have him/her check you out thoroughly, knowing that you are into running and have been smoking a pack a day. I have done this and find that my normal EKG is NOT what I would like. But the effects of not smoking are virtually IMMEDIATE. It will take you 72 hours to get the nicotine out of your system, and 30 days to get over the addiction, and at least a year to really get over it. So get to it, and if you keep running all the while, you’ll probably be ready for a marathon by ‘96!!e

Kent Hughes Analyst – Xerox Corporation

Response:

I used to smoke for several periods of my life and consider myself a fairly good distance runner, marathon PR 2:27. But I never was doing both at the same time. Moreover, after a period of some months with smoking (not a chain smoker, only some pipes a day, never inhalating) it takes some months to clean my body from the incorporated nicotin and to get into shape again. However, I would not suggest this kind of dealing with it to any other runners. To stop smoking after getting used to is always a tough period. These days I have to manage it again… * The ultimate difference between sprinters and long distance runners: * * sprinters run ten seconds and talk about that half an hour… * * long distance runners vice versa. * GMD-FIRST an der TU Berlin German National Research Centre Tel. (Berlin 030) 6392-1908 for Computer Science

Response:

I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this: I run about 25K a week and I smoke about a pack a day. I realize that this is unusual but, it doe doesn’t seem to affect me to any considerable extent. Also, are there any other runners out there who smoke (or want to admit it)? Hrvoje Malovich

Response:

[stuff deleted ] I realize it’s pretty rare for runners to smoke, but I remember reading about how the winner of one Boston Marathon celebrated with a cigar, back in the days when nobody knew of the health risks.

I know several excellent sprinters who smoke. One is a sixty year old who just ran an indoor quarter in 58.6 (!!!) On the other hand, I couldn’t name a single competitive distance runner around here who smokes. — Terry McConnell Mathematics/215 Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150

Response:

Mahoney) writes:

| I was shocked when I read about a runner who smoked about a pack of | unfiltered Lucky Strikes during the Barkley Mountain (ultra) marathon. | This 55 mile race is one of the toughest in the world, with 27,000 | feet of climbing … There is a fine line between toughness and stupidity, and this clearly constitutes the latter. I can respect someone who pushes his disabled kid in a wheelchair through a marathon; but this guy doesn’t impress me. – Bob Carosso

Response:

This makes me think that effect of smoking on long distance runners is probably due to the carbon monoxide produced from incomplete combustion of the cigarette. This would tie up some portion of the hemoglobin in your bloodstream and thus reduce your VO2 max. If you quit smoking it would be like blood doping – you would have more hemoglobin. Red blood cells have a lifespan of about 90 days so you would probably see the effect gradually over that span of time. Sprinting if more anaerobic so the effect on a sprinter would be minimal.

Response:

The doctors always made mention of the condition of the lungs of those folks who had smoked, and told me that while your body will eventually compensate for the lung tissue damage done while smoking, your body will never be able to expell all the black tar and other substances that collected there. Who really knows what effect having all that in your body will have years down the road?

I was under the impression that your body, after it stops smoking, returns back to its healthy pink state in about five years or so. No? — UH School of Library & Info Studies. "Whatever the cost of our o|<0_0——* libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant =^-| |_| | nation." -Walter Cronkite [R.a.b.bit--FAQ Maintainer: "Think Ink!"] _B}_B}

Response:

Two years ago I was running 20-30 miles a week, not smoking all day, and then coming home at night and smoking a pack a night. With the logic that only an addict can love, I figured I was blowing out all the bad things from the night before on the run and so was ahead of the game. One cold winter day at lunch I went out for my normal four miler. After a mile or so, something happened and I couldn’t physically go on. I tried to run through it but could not do much more than piddy pat. I figured it was cold, I had a bug, whatever, and so laid off for a week. When it didn’t get better and I still couldn’t run, I went in for tests. As soon as they did them they immediately took me down to the emergency room. I thought they were going to tell me they were going to operate for cancer, and so was quite relieved when they told me that it was a pneumothorax: a collapsed lung. It was three days in the hospital with a tube in my side to inflate the lung again, a week or so of taking it easy, and within a month I had run the Penn Relays Distance Run (20 K). Yeah, you can smoke and run, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Lungs generally don’t just collapse. The smoking impairs the ability of the blood to carry oxygen; running demands oxygen and an efficient delivery system for it. You can juggle with knives and you can run and smoke, but neither is probably good for you in the long run. Youth gives way to age, and the body is beset by enough other things going on without having to deal with 20-40 doses of poison a day. Of course eventually I started smoking again and going down the same road. I have found some focus this year: off the cigarettes for three months now, and ran my first marathon at Virginia Beach. Running and not smoking is infinitely better than running and smoking. It’s just a hard addiction to get past.

Response:

The lungs return to a state similar to that of non-smokers *if no major damage has already occured*. When a person begins to develop diseases such as lung cancer or emphysemia, the damage is done. Lung cancer has some success in treatment, but not much. Once you have emphysemia, the issue is now to stop more damage from happening. Many wonderful things happen to people who quit smoking–increased lung function, return of the senses of smell and taste, decrease of RISK of disease. This all depends on how long you smoked, what you smoked, and how well your body deals with the 4000+ chemicals found in cigarette smoke. If you have any questions or want to quit smoking, I’d recommend calling either the American Lung Association or American Cancer Society. — Vernon Peterson, MPH Program Manager ALA of Brooklyn

Response:

DON’T EVER SMOKE ANOTHER CIGARETTE! I’m not really that militant, but as a former 1-2 pack a day smoker I could just kick my self for being so careless with my health. I finally got possessed with running, and now have not smoked in over three years. By the way, I used to work as an investigator for a county Medical Examiner, and unfortunately watched alot of autopsies. The doctors always made mention of the condition of the lungs of those folks who had smoked, and told me that while your body will eventually compensate for the lung tissue damage done while smoking, your body will never be able to expell all the black tar and other substances that collected there. Who really knows what effect having all that in your body will have years down the road?

Response:

Allan, First of all, your purity and ideological fervor on the subject of smoking is impressive. To compare smokers to Nazis is indeed an important insight. Maybe we should round them up and punish them for their crimes. Would you be interested in heading up the security apparatus that would carry out such "cleansing?" Secondly, re your claim that "it may not be healthy for smokers to run." Uh, Allan, a lot of things "may"or "may not" be healthy in the case of any individual. Some non-smokers "may" be at risk if they run, too. In general, however, smokers being human beings like the rest of us (an old fashioned opinion I still cling to, even under the New Regime which frowns on such dangerous retrograde views), and running being healthy for human beings, it follows logically that, generally, running is healthy for smokers. Not least because it encourages them to quit– presumably something you would favor and wish to encourage. Or do you find it more rewarding merely to harrass them and call them names? James

Response:

I have a friend that runs about 30 miles per week, but she also smokes about a pack of cigarettes a week. It’s really a strange thing to see since she seems to be in pretty good shape. Her LSD is up to 10 miles. Does anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of you smoke occasionally? — Karen ****** I had a teammate on my high school track team who smoked like a chimney, but was also one of the most talented runners in the state, placing 2nd in the 400 at the state meet. I think he could get away with it for awhile, but it would catch up with him later. I wonder how good he could have been without smoking??

Response:

[All previous posts deleted.] Yeesh! All I can say is that a Japanese visitor DIED *during* the ‘93 Honolulu Marathon and it turned out he was a pack-a-day smoker! It’s kind of like putting sugar in your gas tank and wondering why your car won’t run. — UH School of Library & Info Studies. "Whatever the cost of our o|<0_0——* libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant =^-| |_| | nation." -Walter Cronkite [R.a.b.bit--FAQ Maintainer: "Think Ink!"] _B}_B}

Response:

Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug–moreso even than intravenous heroin. It takes a mighty effort to break the addiction. Fortunately, running often displaces smoking, so maybe your friend will give up the cigs completely if/when she increases her training.

Hear hear! Twice in my life I’ve been able to quit smoking cold turkey, and they were both directly attributed to my starting an exercise program. You simply CANNOT catch your breath otherwise! I’ve been smoke-free for five years and have no desire to start again–anyway, how can anyway just burn up $2.50 a pack? — UH School of Library & Info Studies. "Whatever the cost of our o|<0_0——* libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant =^-| |_| | nation." -Walter Cronkite [R.a.b.bit--FAQ Maintainer: "Think Ink!"] _B}_B}

Response:

<snip Rather than discussing running and smoking, it would be productive to discuss how to avoid people who smoke. There is nothing like running, walking, or biking on that rare day when the air is almost clean, and having that day fouled by the poisonous stench of tobacco. Sincerely, Allan of Equinox

Smoking kills – yes. You hate smoking and, by inferrence, smokers – fine. Rather than discussing how to avoid people who smoke, it would be productive to support the efforts of those who wish to overcome their addiction. I see nothing productive about avoidance.

Response:

Re Danny Martin’s comments on smoking and running: No one on this subject has suggested that smoking is healthy, or that it’s OK to smoke so long as you run. What has been suggested is that 1) it is healthier to smoke and run than to smoke and be sedentary 2) Running is a powerful incentive to quit smoking, therefore smokers should be encouraged in their running efforts. Even good people–indeed, most good people–have bad habits. Many runners, myself included, used to smoke. We had our running programs even while we smoked. Eventually the running programs won out. Good! By the way, it is unreasonable, dogmatic and a little silly to deny that running has a positive aerobic effect on the lungs of smokers–just as it would be silly to deny that smoking has a damaging effect.

Interesting thread. I’m 40, have smoked one or two cigarettes a day for 20 years. Actually, it’s more like 2 a week now. I’ve sometimes gone several wee weeks or even months w/o, and frankly, I’ve not noticed any difference. I run about 30 miles/week and run 10k in about 36:00. While I suppose I would be better off with no cigarettes, I’m also pretty sure that at 1 a day or so, something else is likely to kill me before the smoking does. All the research I’ve seen shows a linear dose/response relationship between smoking and cancer risk, at any rate. Not sure about heart disease. I kind of wish people would just treat it as a health issue and stop making it a moral issue. I don’t understand why anyone would smoke a pack a day, but it’s their choice. Hell, everybody’s going to die anyway.

Response:

James: I agree with point 1. #2 seems reasonable and I hope true. I also agree that many wonderful people have bad habits and if running helps someone who wants to quit smoking, quit-great. However, it is not unreasonable to state that running has no postive effect on the lungs of smokers (or nonsmokers). The research on the effects of training on the lungs has shown numerous times that the lungs are not "trainable" as are the heart or skeletal muscles. Pulmonary function tests are not improved by training. The respiratory muscles can be trained with running, etc, but research clealry shows the lung tissue’s function does not improve as a resultof training. My comments were not meant to belittle or offend smokers, but to communicate my viewpoint, which is based on my understanding of the research on this topic. Danny Martin

Response:

It may be an unwarranted assumption that it is healthier to run & smoke. The additional stress of running on an individual who has been damaged by tobacco could be deadly. An individuals vulnerability to tobacco would also depend on their genetic make up. Even among those nicotine addicts with apparent longevity, it is not known how adversely they are affected by tobacco. In other words, they might live even long with a better quality of life if they were smoke free. I have a friend who is in the habit of looking after others. Another friend, when he was young, was in the habit of picking his nose. Disgusting, yes, but not deadly to himself or anyone around him. One year in Oregon, according to the Oregon Dep. of Health, 43 infants were killed by second hand smoke. That year not half as many were killed by the official accepted forms of child abuse. That year, second hand smoke killed many children and adults too. Second hand smoke left lung lesions and did other damage as well to those it hadn’t yet killed. Second hand smoke kills over 50,000 infants, children, and adults a year in the US alone. A couple of billion tons of tobacco are burned every year losing Type "A" carcinogens including benzene, formaldehyde, cyanide, and over 3,000 other chemicals, into the environment, killing the equivalent of a jumbo jet overloaded with passengers, every day of the year. To call smoking a habit, it to call the German Concentration Camps of WWII health spas. In the next 25 years tobacco will take half a billion lives. If WWII had lasted 25 years it would not have killed 1/3 as many people. Comparing Tobacco to death camps to some would be hyperbole. However, I would suggest to those who hold that opinion–visit a cancer ward, a hospice, or even an individual with emphysema. Those folks who own the tobacco companies have made their way into the food chain. Why any would buy food anything else from the merchants of death is beyond my understanding. Rather than discussing running and smoking, it would be productive to discuss how to avoid people who smoke. There is nothing like running, walking, or biking on that rare day when the air is almost clean, and having that day fouled by the poisonous stench of tobacco. On the other hand, just how much Type "A" carcinogen is it reasonable to breath even when it is spread by people who are feeding their recreational addiction. Sincerely, Allan of Equinox – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Re Danny Martin’s comments on smoking and running: No one on this subject has suggested that smoking is healthy, or that it’s OK to smoke so long as you run. What has been suggested is that 1) it is healthier to smoke and run than to smoke and be sedentary 2) Running is a powerful incentive to quit smoking, therefore smokers should be encouraged in their running efforts. Even good people–indeed, most good people–have bad habits. Many runners, myself included, used to smoke. We had our running programs even while we smoked. Eventually the running programs won out. Good! By the way, it is unreasonable, dogmatic and a little silly to deny that running has a positive aerobic effect on the lungs of smokers–just as it would be silly to deny that smoking has a damaging effect.

Response:

:I have a friend that runs about 30 miles per week, but she also :smokes about a pack of cigarettes a week. It’s really a strange :thing to see since she seems to be in pretty good shape. Her :LSD is up to 10 miles. oes anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of :you smoke occasionally? Her max VO2 is significantly less than it otherwise would be because the carbon monoxide in her cigarette smoke is occupying hemoglobin that it otherwise wouldn’t. Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug–moreso even than intravenous heroin. It takes a mighty effort to break the addiction. Fortunately, running often displaces smoking, so maybe your friend will give up the cigs completely if/when she increases her training. Fortunately, I never started, but I’ve seen my father try to quit once a year for the last fifteen years, and he’s failed every time. :-( — Chris BeHanna DoD# 114 KotSTA Ed Green 1975 CB360T – Baby Bike kore wa NEC no iken de gozaimasen. FOLMA #17 1973 RD350A – seized Why is Lon Horiuchi still breathing? 1987 EX500 - the RaceBike

Response:

I couldn’t agree more. What spooked me was when I seen your name at the end. I had to think to myself, "Did I write this and forget about it?". I thought I was loosing my mind. Pretty cool name though. regards, Danny Martin

Response:

Smoking is incompatible with a healthy lifestyle and definelty will hinder running perfromance in the short term and may cuase life-threatening problem in the long term. For every 80 year uncle that smoked all his life without ill effects, there are many who suffered and died because of smoking. Danny Martin I couldn’t agree more. What spooked me was when I seen your name at the end. I had to think to myself, "Did I write this and forget about it?". I thought I was loosing my mind. Pretty cool name though.

I couldn’t agree more, myself, but I will add: Exercise is a NECCESSARY part of smoking cessation! I was a pack-a-day smoker, and as I have increased my daily exercise regimen from nil to walking to running, my smoking has ALMOST dropped off to nothing. I have set a stopping date. If I had not done it this way, I don’t think I’d be enjoying the benefits of the exercise, and I’d be sitting around thinking, "this sucks! I think I’ll have another cigarette!" I certainly wouldn’t recommend running to anyone, and I’ve worked into it very gradually, but I just wanted to say that exercise isn’t the exclusive property of non-smokers, but also a way to become one!

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a friend that runs about 30 miles per week, but she also smokes about a pack of cigarettes a week. It’s really a strange thing to see since she seems to be in pretty good shape. Her LSD is up to 10 miles. Does anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of you smoke occasionally? — Karen Your friend’s body must work a lot harder to produce the same results that she would get if she didn’t smoke. Bill

Response:

I don’t understand why she would want to smoke. If it is only a pack a week, why waste the money? There is nothing to be gained from smoking.

Response:

| I have a friend that runs about 30 miles per week, but she also | smokes about a pack of cigarettes a week. It’s really a strange | thing to see since she seems to be in pretty good shape. Her | LSD is up to 10 miles. | | Does anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of | you smoke occasionally? Kawika Spaulding, one of 4 people to finish the Trans-America Footrace this year, would smoke a cigarette each day before starting to "prevent himself from going out too fast."

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Does anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of you smoke occasionally? Gerard Cote, French Canadian guy who won four times the Boston Marathon (1940, 1943, 1944, 1948), was a cigar smoker… until he died at the age of 80 or 81 years old a couple of years ago. I remember reading somewhere that one mile before winning one of his Boston Marathons he asked his wife watching the end from her hotel room: " Lucille, meet me at the finish line with my cigars and a couple of bottles of cold beer " ! —

Smoking 1 pack of cig/day can result in about 5% of the hemoglolbin in the blood to be bound to carbon monoxide. This reduces the oxygen carrying capcity of the blood. 2 packs per day = about 10%!!!!! The damage from cigarette smoking can not be "prevented" or reversed by running or any other form of exercise. The lung is one of few organs that is not "trained" by exercise. The tragedy of smoking-induced illness is that often by the time it is detected, the damage is done and irrevesible. Emphysema does not "heal" like a broken arm and many pateints with lung cancer are dead within 12 monthsof diagnosis. Smoking is incompatible with a healthy lifestyle and definelty will hinder running perfromance in the short term and may cuase life-threatening problem in the long term. For every 80 year uncle that smoked all his life without ill effects, there are many who suffered and died because of smoking. Danny Martin

Response:

Your friend’s body must work a lot harder to produce the same results that she would get if she didn’t smoke. Bill

Response:

Does anyone know what the effects of this might be?? Or do any of you smoke occasionally?

Gerard Cote, French Canadian guy who won four times the Boston Marathon (1940, 1943, 1944, 1948), was a cigar smoker… until he died at the age of 80 or 81 years old a couple of years ago. I remember reading somewhere that one mile before winning one of his Boston Marathons he asked his wife watching the end from her hotel room: " Lucille, meet me at the finish line with my cigars and a couple of bottles of cold beer " ! —

Response:

« OSA and heart problems – followup

PI therapy implicated in endothelial dysfunction »