Cigarette smoking: an underused tool in high-performance endurance training

Y'all did read the important bit in the Abstract, right?

> if research results are selectively chosen, a review has the potential to create a convincing argument for a faulty hypothesis. Improper correlation or extrapolation of data can result in dangerously flawed conclusions.

Back in the mid-90s I was referred to a specialist because my excessive snoring was giving me sleep apnoea. The consultant advised that I needed throat reconstruction surgery to cure the problem. He asked me if I smoked. Expecting yet another telling-off from the medical profession, I admitted that I did. "Don't give up," he told me. "Smoking helps dry out the throat and will make the procedure easier to perform."

To date, he is the only doctor who's told me to carry on smoking.

"The hemoglobin increases may be further enhanced with add-on therapy of ethanol, which also appears to act in a dose-dependent manner."

XD

Article is dated 2010.

Reading this part was amusing to me, for some people it might make their heads explode (figuratively): "With this in mind, smoking should be commenced at as young an age as is reasonably possible. Children who have not yet developed a pincer grasp might require modified cigarette holders, safety lighters or both."

My own experience is mixed. In high school, I was a cross-country runner (3 mile footrace). I was almost always just one or two positions behind the top five runners on my team (only top five score points in a meet). Many years later, I started to think that maybe my daily exposure (one or two hours) to second-hand cigarette smoke from one of my parents had something to do with me not being faster. This study seems to indicate that might not be true at all. And our fastest runner on the team (competitive at the state level) was known to be an occasional cigarette smoker. Go figure.

Reminds me of this classic: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QyNgrZX9Nzc

I admire the efforts of this research, and I’ll also say that while I do not endorse smoking cigarettes and I regret the amount of cigarettes I do smoke, there has been a strong correlation between the increase in my cigarette consumption over the last two years (from ~1/2 pack a day to 1-2 packs per day) and my running performance (from not any ever to ~1/2 mile on several occasions).

All of those runs I have embarked on have been with my dog, who thinks it’s the coolest thing ever.

> With this in mind, smoking should be commenced at as young an age as is reasonably possible. Children who have not yet developed a pincer grasp might require modified cigarette holders, safety lighters or both. These points are moot at this time, because such initiatives are not possible in many countries because of existing legislation putting age restrictions on the purchase of cigarettes.

Lol, what a shame

Next article will be titled “coccaine: an underused tool in high-performance boardroom negotiation”

Are the side effects and addictive potential not bad enough to cancel out the benefits here? By saying it’s under used, you are saying more people should smoke once in a while. Everyone I know who ever smoked once in a while became daily smokers eventually and couldn’t quit for years (many still smoke)

Is it just nicotine?

I was shocked to read that nicotine isn't associated with cancer deaths in cigarette smoking, I don't recall if there is a heart disease link.

It's all the other crap in cigarettes.

I guess it is hard to run studies because nicotine is as addictive as heroin.

This is a satire, lol.

Pretty standard as far as the quality of research I have read when it comes to exercise science.

(2010)!