ANOTHER REASON TO GIVE UP SMOKING

Article below from the Daily Mail and another reason why smoking is detrimental to your health. With Smoking you don't only risk cancer from inhaling all the toxins in cigarette smoke, the chemicals such as Nicotine affect the circulation thus decreasing blood supply to the extremities and paralysing the Cilia (little hairs that line the respiratory tract) in that this renders you unable to effectively cough up those tarry cancerogenic substances inhaled when smoking. Smoking also deprives your body's cells of the oxygen it needs to maintain good health. Lack of sleep also affects health and will be detrimental to your immune system as lack of sleep leads to stress and stress hormones damage our immune system. We are born with our quota of nerve cells in the brain, once they die they are not replaced so why cause their premature death by depriving them of oxygen.  I can't understand why young people in particular want to take up this stupid practise when so much is known about it.

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Smokers get fewer hours sleep and a lower quality of rest than non-smokers, scientists claim

• 17% of smokers get fewer than six hours of sleep each night, compared with just 7% of non smokers
• 28% of smokers reported 'disturbed' sleep, while only 19% of non-smokers felt their sleep was poor quality

Smokers may get fewer hours of sleep and have less restful slumber than non-smokers, according to study.

Researchers found that of nearly 1,100 smokers surveyed, 17 per cent got fewer than six hours of sleep each night and 28 per cent reported 'disturbed' sleep quality.

That compared with rates of 7 per cent and 19 per cent respectively among more than 1,200 non-smokers who were also surveyed.

Researcher: Seventeen per cent of smokers surveyed got fewer than six hours of sleep each night and 28 per cent reported 'disturbed' sleep quality

Lead researcher Stefan Cohrs, from Charite Berlin medical school in Germany, said: 'This study demonstrates for the first time an elevated prevalence of sleep disturbance in smokers compared with non-smokers in a population without lifetime history of psychiatric disorders even after controlling for potentially relevant risk factors.'

The findings cannot prove that smoking directly impairs sleep, since smokers may have other habits that could affect their shut-eye such as staying up late to watch TV or getting little exercise, he said.

But there is also reason to believe the stimulating effects of nicotine may be to blame.

'If you smoke and you do suffer from sleep problems, it is another good reason to quit smoking,' Mr Cohrs said.

Poor sleep quality may not only make your waking hours tougher. Some studies have also linked habitually poor sleep to health problems like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

'More than one-quarter of smokers had a score than landed them in the category of disturbed sleep'

The study included 1,071 smokers and 1,243 non-smokers who were free of mental health disorders, since those conditions may make a person both more likely to smoke and more vulnerable to sleep problems.

The researchers, whose work appeared in the journal Addiction Biology, used a questionnaire that gauges sleep quality. 

Overall, more than one-quarter of smokers had a score than landed them in the category of 'disturbed' sleep, meaning they had a high probability of insomnia.

Many things can affect sleep quality, and Cohrs's team was able to account for factors such as age, weight, and alcohol abuse. Yet smoking was still linked to poorer sleep quality.

It's still possible there are other things about smokers that impair their sleep, but Cohrs said he thinks the most likely culprit is nicotine - and the prospect of better sleep could provide smokers with an additional reason to quit.

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