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Hate to repeat myself about the ills of smoking, and all the bad things it can do to you. But considering the results of this study, I just couldn't resist it. Scottish researchers discovered a link between those who smoked over a long period of time and its effect on their cognitive abilities.
Scientists did followups on patients, who participated in the Scottish Mental Survey conducted in 1947 when they were 11 years old, between 2000-2002. No big surprise, smokers performed significantly worse in five different cognitive tests than did both former smokers and those who had never smoked.
When social and health factors such as education, occupation and alcohol consumption were taken into account, smoking still appeared to contribute to a drop in cognitive function of just under 1 percent. A possible cause for this breakdown: Smoking subjects vital organs, including the brain, to oxidative stress, the lead researcher said, and aging neurons are very sensitive to oxidative damage.
I assume many of you who read my daily blog and twice-weekly eHealthy News You Can Use newsletter have already kicked the habit, but you probably know a friend or loved one who is still struggling with this dangerous, unhealthy habit. If you believe that loved one needs any more reasons to quit smoking, I strongly suggest you review a recent story I posted that documents the true price of smoking and use the link in the right-hand corner of the page to send an e-mail link of that page to him or her. That could be the best gift your friend or loved one could receive this holiday season!
If that makes them begin to think about quitting, I encourage you to share the best energy psychology tool I know of, the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). To learn more about EFT, I encourage you to share my free manual with them too.
New Scientist December 10, 2004