Quit smoking before 35: health reagained!

[Neserk]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...moking_quit_dc

The long term effects of smoking can be negated by smokers who quit before the age of 35. I wonder if they checked out the lenght of time one smoked versus how old they were when they quit smoking...

[wdlove]

Quiting smoking at any age is a good idea. You can regain quality of life. A lot of the lungs can be reversed by quiting smoking at any age. The main problem being emphysema and chronic obstructive lung disease.

http://www.scsu.baruch.cuny.edu/scsu.../smokerev.html

[Doctor Q]

The study didn't show cause and effect, just statistics. For example, certain people pay more attention to their health than others, e.g., they get regular checkups, watch their weight, etc. Presumably, such people tend to live longer than others. Now suppose that some of these people learned to be health conscious later in life. Those of them who smoked at earlier ages might tend to be ones who quit smoking, and still live longer than non-health-conscious people who never smoked because they take care of themselves, outweighing the earlier effects of smoking.

This is simply one possible explanation of the survey results, and my supposition may be true or false. But it points out that you can't make causal assumptions based only on these statistics.

[sushi]

Originally Posted by wdlove

Quiting smoking at any age is a good idea. You can regain quality of life. A lot of the lungs can be reversed by quiting smoking at any age. The main problem being emphysema and chronic obstructive lung disease.[/URL]

Totally agree.

Toured a museum a long time ago in which they had lungs on display. The purpose of the display was to highlight what smoking does to your lungs.

I remember three pairs of lungs from the following individuals:

a. From a healthy non-smoking person. Looked beautiful.

b. From a person who had smoked all of their life and died of emphysema. It was a gross blackish hard looking organ.

c. From a person who had quit smoking 2 years prior to dying. I think they died of a heart attack if memory serves. Their lungs were a cross between the two, but looked much more like the ones from the healthy person than the one who smoked their whole life. There were small parts that were still blackish and hard looking. But the majority of the lung looked great.

It really showed the effects of smoking, and what you could do if you stopped. Some friends who saw the display stopped smoking cold turkey.

Here is a web site that has some pics:

http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_02_17_smoke_in_lung.html

All I can say is that the pictures do not do justice compared to seeing the lungs in person. To see lungs such as these in person is a really eye opening event!

Sushi

[sushi]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

This is simply one possible explanation of the survey results, and my supposition may be true or false. But it points out that you can't make causal assumptions based only on these statistics.

Agreed.

You might enjoy these pics:

http://www.presmark.com/htmlfile/lung6of6.htm

Sushi

[Neserk]

I think you are missing the point, people. The idea is that you can restore your health *if* you quit smoking. And doing it before the age of 35 makes a difference. Obviously, continuing to smoke is not going to make you more healthy.

[wdlove]

As Doctor Q pointed out it how much an individual pays attention to their own health. Genetics also play a part. Still quitting at any age has benefits, the lungs have a great ability to regenerate. The smoking prevents that regenerative ability.

Working with physician on autopsies, gave me even a better view of the damage disease does to the human body.

[Neserk]

Originally Posted by wdlove

Genetics also play a part.

No kidding. My husband's grandfather is 87 and has been smoking for eons (although we aren't sure he actually inhales) his health is great, for an 87 year old. But that is the exception...

[sushi]

Originally Posted by Neserk

I think you are missing the point, people. The idea is that you can restore your health *if* you quit smoking. And doing it before the age of 35 makes a difference. Obviously, continuing to smoke is not going to make you more healthy.

Uh, not sure why you made this comment.

Almost everyone has echoed that it is a good idea to quit smoking regardless of the age.

As for quiting before age 35, I think quiting at any time is a good idea regardless of your age.

Sushi

[Doctor Q]

One of my coworkers must be really really healthy by now. He has quit smoking half a dozen times!

[Neserk]

Originally Posted by sushi

Uh, not sure why you made this comment.

Almost everyone has echoed that it is a good idea to quit smoking regardless of the age.

As for quiting before age 35, I think quiting at any time is a good idea regardless of your age.

Sushi

The article notes that quitting before 35 has people recovering completely from the damage smoking does. But quitting after 35 is still better than continuing smoking.

[Neserk]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

One of my coworkers must be really really healthy by now. He has quit smoking half a dozen times!

According to a Psychiatric Nurse I know the more you try and quit smoking the more likely you are to suceed. In contrast the more someone tries to quit drinking the less likely they are to suceed. The first seems like common sense until you see the second.