I was wondering how many here smoke like I do. Ive noticed that days when I smoke alot my muscles feel weaker and tighter. It makes sense since smoking has been proven to deplete oxygen in muscles. I was wondering if Dr. Sarno has published any thoughts on this. I remember one time when I quit for 4 months, I felt almost invincible. My muscles were loose and flexible. Just a thought.
I've never smoked, but I remember reading about a surgeon who reattaches severed fingers and limbs and he said that if the patient was a smoker they had to absolutely quit, because the reattached tissue is so sensitive to oxygen deprivation. The patients who broke down and had just one or two cigarettes after the surgery would lose the reattached part, since one cigarette was usually always enough to deplete the oxygen to a point where the reattached tissue would begin to die from inadequate oxygen and then it couldn't recover and the surgeon would have to remove the part he'd just put back on.
Even if it didn't affect your muscles, it's so damaging over the long run. My husband smoked and even though he quit at 38 he has major effects from it. You're very likely to eventually develop asthma and emphysema. Most people don't realize until it's too late just how devastating emphysema is. It often results in problems like incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Even if you never get cancer from smoking, you'll really have a major decline in your quality of life as you get a little older. Not trying to scare you, but I know my husband didn't realize how many problems smoking leads to until it was too late to avoid those problems. I know it's hard to quit (it took my husband several attempts before he quit for good), but it's worth it.
SMOKING and OXYGEN
Posted - 12/13/2006 : 22:45:10
