Stop smoking ads show damage to brain

Date: Dec-30-2013A new anti-smoking campaign launched in the closing days of 2013 by Public Health

England (PHE) includes TV adverts that show in graphic detail the harmful effects of smoking on the

brain, heart and lungs.

The new Smokefree Health Harms campaign highlights how inhaling cigarette smoke generates a "toxic cycle

of dirty blood" that carries harmful chemicals like arsenic and cyanide around the body, causing

damage to major organs.

The dirty blood moves through the lungs and the heart, finally ending up in the brain, causing damage to brain cells.

While all organs are affected, the brain is particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of

these chemicals, leading to a faster decline in mental capacity and raised risk of dementia and

stroke, says the campaign.

Smoking can narrow the arteries, which in turn raises risk of blood clots that lead to stroke,

and recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that smokers are twice as likely

to die of a stroke, compared with non-smokers.

Smoking speeds up cognitive decline

The new ad campaign shows graphic images like this one, which shows toxic blood that may circulate the body as a result of smoking.
Image credit: PHE

The new campaign also cites research that shows how smokers experience poorer memory and a

greater decline in reasoning in later life.

For example, Medical News Today reported on a study in 2012

that found smoking speeds up

cognitive decline in men, and another published in PLOS ONE earlier this year finds it has the same effect in

women.

Dr. Gareth Hagger-Johnson, research associate at University College London (UCL), conducted one

of the studies into the effects of smoking on cognitive function and says:

"Accelerated decline in cognitive reasoning and memory is more advanced in smokers, with one of

our studies at UCL showing it to be nearly 38% faster in persistent male smokers compared to non-smokers."

He explains that while there may be a natural tendency for the brain's cognitive powers to decline

with age anyway, they have found a number of risk factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, are

linked to accelerated decline. He adds:

"Healthy behaviours in midlife may help preserve cognitive function into early old age, but all

smokers should consider quitting to help protect their brain from serious long-term harm."

When smoking is combined with other damaging lifestyle factors such as heavy drinking, lack of

exercise and poor diet, and also with high blood pressure, the risks of cardiovascular diseases,

dementia, diabetes and cancer go up even further.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, says:

"We know about the serious effect smoking has on the heart and lungs but smokers need to be

aware of how much potential damage is being done to the brain and other vital organs through toxins

in cigarettes entering the blood."

She adds that as half of smokers die early from diseases linked to smoking, it is "extremely

worrying that people still underestimate the health harms associated with it."

Not all 'gloom and doom'

However, she says it is "not all gloom and doom," and urges smokers to give up smoking as a New

Year's resolution - it is well worth it because:

"Within 5 years of stopping smoking, your risk of stroke can be reduced to the same as a

lifetime non-smoker."

Resources and advice on how to quit smoking are available through the NHS Smokefree website.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Copyright: Medical News Today

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Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.