A recent article published in Los Angeles Times brings up very important information for women smokers.
Although we all know that smoking is really bad for you, somehow it is very difficult to quit. So, if you are a smoker and still haven’t quit there are some things you should do to alleviate effects of smoking.
Dr. Robert Sallis from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana says: “If you can’t stop smoking, exercise will mitigate some of the effects”. Lung cancer which is primary cause of death in females right after heart diseases is a great example. Smoking increases significantly risk of the disease but exercise seems to provide a protective effect.
Study conducted in 2006 showed that women who were current or former smokers and exercised regularly were less likely to develop lung cancer than those who didn’t. Dr. Stanton Glantz from division of cardiology at UC San Francisco says: “When you exercise, that improves your cardiovascular function and your HDL cholesterol, and generally, it is good for you. (…) So if you smoke and exercise, you’re going to be better off than if you smoke and don’t exercise”. He also adds: “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”.
But the best thing of course is to quit.