Smoking and ATHLETESIt doesn’t matter what you smoke it greatly effects your physical performance capacities

In low concentrations (an average cigarette yields only about 1 mg of absorbed nicotine), the substance acts as an incredibly strong stimulant and is one of the main factors responsible for the dependence-forming properties of tobacco smoking. It is clearly one of the most addictive substances you could take into your body. "Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break." The pharmacological and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Very easy to get hooked very hard to stop…

Effects of smoking

on performanceNICOTINE

Known Effects on Health• The number one most preventable cause of death in our society is

smoking.• Nicotine is more addictive than heroin and cocaine.• There are over 4700 chemicals in every cigarette.• Over 40 of these 4700 chemicals are carcinogenic (cancer causing).• One drop of pure nicotine in the body is fatal.• Cigarettes are highly addictive both mentally and physically.• More than 3,000 of our youth become smokers each day.• One third of these new smokers will die from a tobacco related disease

prematurely.• It takes 7 seconds for nicotine to reach the brain after inhaling.• Smoking kills more Americans each year than alcohol, cocaine, crack,

heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fires, and AIDS combined.

ANYTHING YOU SMOKE…

The effect of smoking anything

can have an immediate and

drastic impact on critical physiological

systems used in high level sport performance.

The Aveoli in your lungs are the oxygen absorption sites in your body. If you smoke, you coat and cover the outer layers of the aveoli with tar and residue

which prevents oxygen from being absorbed into your body. Less oxygen in to the working muscles … less muscle function…

The human lung contains about 150 million alveoli. Each alveolus is wrapped in a fine mesh

of capillaries covering about 70% of its area.Oxygen IN

Vascular (Circulatory) before smoking, peripheral

Vascular (Circulatory) changes due smoking, peripheral

Hands before smoking Hands after smoking

Note that after smoking there is a significant decrease in circulation(blood flow to the hands (extremities). Note also decrease in skin temperature.

COLDER WARMER

DECREASED CIRCULATION

HGB

HEMOGLOBIN is the iron-containing oxygen-transport protein in red blood cells

Hemoglobin is what absorbs oxygen into the red blood cells so it can be transported to the working muscles and released.

When you smoke anything, you breath in carbon monoxide.

Hemoglobin has an affinity 300x greater for carbon monoxide than

for oxygen.

O2 TRANSPORT

ENDURANCE CAPACITY

• Smoking greatly decreases the endurance capacity in athletes. • Decreases of 5-7 ml/kg/min VO2 have been observed (lost O2

delivery to muscles) in smokers• O2 transport and saturation are greatly reduced• Circulation to peripheral tissues greatly diminished• Upper respiratory irritation during maximal intensity

• Increases heart rate• Maximal ventilation (air breathed in /out) decreased• Earlier onset of fatigue in Heart , Lungs , Muscles

Smokers Lungs

The lifelong damage from smoking is often

overlooked. This photo tells the story…

I’ll quit later…

ChewSpit Your Life Away

An estimated 7 percent of high school students are current smokeless

tobacco users many are H.S. athletes.

Performance Effects

• Raises your heart rate 10-20 BPM beats per minute at rest ( Cardiac Fatigue)

• Over stimulates your CNS (Central Nervous System)

• Dehydrates body (spitting)

No help for Athletes• A lot of athletes get hooked before they know the facts about dip and chew.

They don't know that spit tobacco: • is highly addictive • contains nicotine • doesn't help performance • is not a safe alternative to cigarettes • Addiction is one tough opponent. It doesn't take long to get hooked. In fact,

you get more nicotine from spit tobacco than from cigarettes. To get unhooked, you have to know what you're up against and you need a game plan. Once you're hooked, it's hard to keep lid on this addiction.

• There are no benefits of using spit tobacco. In a Major League Baseball poll, not one player who used dip or chew said that the tobacco improved his game or sharpened his reflexes.

• Sport Scientists agree. Spit tobacco does not improve athletic performance.

Effects• Spit tobacco is extremely addictive.• Spit tobacco causes lip, tongue, cheek, and other types of oral cancer.• Nearly 90% of oral cancers start from mouth sores that look like

grayish white places on the inner cheek.• Spit tobacco damages mouth tissue beyond repair.• There are over 4700 chemicals in cigarettes, and a great number of

these same chemicals are found in spit tobacco.• Spit tobacco causes gum recession and mouth sores. • Using spit tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.• Spit tobacco causes repeated bleeding in the mouth.• Tooth loss and tooth decay are the results of using spit tobacco.• Spit tobacco can disfigure your jaw or neck area by causing lumps.

Is it worth it? Ask Rick…

'Man without a face' warns of cancer risk. Former baseball player Rick Bender speaks

about surviving oral cancer caused by chewing tobacco. He lost part of his tongue

and jaw in surgeries.

Rick Bender was 12 when he stuck the first pinch of snuff between his cheek and gum. He was 26 when doctors diagnosed him with oral cancer and removed half of his jaw, a third of his tongue, and part of his neck. "I always thought smokeless tobacco was the safer alternative to cigarettes," says Bender, now 38. "'Smokeless' sounds so harmless. You know, no

smoke, no fire." An estimated 7.6 million Americans use snuff or chewing tobacco today. Over half a million of those are thought to be under age 18. Many teens, like

Bender in his youth, have no idea that smokeless tobacco can cause one of the most deadly types of cancer known: oral cancer. Those who use snuff -- also known as spit tobacco --are up to 11 times more likely to develop cancer of the mouth, cheek, gums, tongue, lips, or

throat than nonusers. Oral cancer is diagnosed in about 29,000 people every year, and over 7,000 die from it annually. Only half of all oral cancer patients are alive five years after diagnosis.

Smokeless tobacco has also been associated with other types of cancers, as well as heart disease. It can speed tooth decay, cause your gums to recede, stain your teeth, and give you bad breath. In addition, high nicotine levels (higher than cigarettes) make this kind of tobacco extremely addictive. (For more information on the hazards of snuff and chewing tobacco, see our (factsheet on smokeless tobacco. )

Yet while public health campaigns have made us all well aware of the dangers of smoking, studies show that few young people have heard about the perils of using snuff and chewing tobacco.

A recent survey of teenager smokeless tobacco users in West Virginia -- one of the top smokeless-tobacco-consuming states -- found that only 74 percent knew the product was harmful. Of 808 public high school boys surveyed, 7 percent of fifth graders said they used snuff, 22 percent of eighth graders, and 32 percent of 11th graders.

Craig Stotts, RN, PhD, an investigator at Arkansas' Program Against Teen Chewing (PATCH), says the number of adolescents using smokeless tobacco has doubled in the past three decades. The typical users are young white males, many of whom play baseball and don't do very well in school.

"Peer pressure, especially among baseball players, is severe," says Stotts. "We've tried recruiting [teens for our project] at high school baseball teams and have had no luck," often because the coaches are users too, he adds.

To make matters worse, Stotts says, U.S. tobacco companies often give away free hats and tins of snuff at the sporting events most popular among rural teens: baseball games, tractor pulls, and rodeos.

Rick Bender was a baseball player as a teen. He knows the kind of peer pressure kids face when it comes to smokeless tobacco, and the kind of resistance they'll put up if told to quit.

"I don't care what age you are, nobody likes to be told what to do," says Bender, who now spends most of the year talking to high school students about his experience with smokeless tobacco. "I just give them the information and let them know it's their decision -- a life and death decision."

Kids snap to attention when Bender walks into an auditorium. "I'm different, and they sit there and listen to what I have to say," he says. More than 200 kids across the country have surreptitiously slipped Bender their tins of snuff following his lectures. "They'll palm it in their right hand

and then hand it off when they shake my hand," Bender says. He keeps those cans in his garage as trophies. When Bender first developed oral cancer in 1989, doctors gave him just two years to live. Fortunately, the extremely invasive surgery he underwent

succeeded in removing all of the cancer. The media has dubbed Bender "The Man Without a Face." He says that he doesn't mind the moniker, but quips that "The Man With Half a Face" would be more accurate.

"This thing was supposed to kill me and it didn't," Bender says. "And maybe talking to these kids is the reason God left me here."

Spark It Up… Your Loss

POT NOT

Smoke it and Lose

What’s in the smoke? Chemicals What’s in the

smoke? Enough

chemicals to cover and coat

your aveoli , which are the

site of entry for oxygen that is

needed for your muscles to work