Sure, smoking is bad for you -- but what happens when you combine it with something really good -- like running eight miles a day? Do you get a healthier smoker? Or an unhealthy athlete?
It's one of those is-the-cigarette-half-smoked-or-half-unsmoked conundrums. And there's no definitive answer.
"If people can quit, that's the best thing," says Dr. Robert Sallis, director of sports medicine at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana. That seems obvious, but Sallis explains that many of the risks associated with smoking are immediately and dramatically reduced upon quitting. Then he adds: "If you can't stop smoking, exercise will mitigate some of the effects."
Lung cancer is a prime example. Although smoking increases the risk of the disease, exercise seems to provide a protective effect. In a 2006 study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, women who were current or former smokers and had high levels of physical activity were less likely to develop lung cancer than those who were more sedentary.
"When you exercise, that improves your cardiovascular function and your HDL cholesterol, and generally, it's just good for you," says Dr. Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at UC San Francisco. "So if you smoke and exercise, you're going to be better off than if you smoke and don't exercise."
But, he adds, smoking may also hamper athletic abilities. "The balance is going to depend on how much you smoke and how much you exercise. But I can tell you unequivocally that people would be better marathoners if they didn't smoke."
--
Lungs impaired
Inhaling cigarette smoke causes a number of effects in the body that can affect performance. In the lungs, it increases tissue inflammation, narrowing airways and allowing less oxygen to the body. Since working muscles need more oxygen, this could result in less strength and energy during exercise.
A study examining the effects of smoking cessation found some fitness improvements after a week. Eleven young men who smoked about a pack a day for 3 1/2 years were subjected to several tests while on a stationary bike before quitting, and then a week later. The 2000 study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, showed that pulmonary functions showed no significant improvement, but oxygen concentration considerably increased, and exercise time was greatly extended.
