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5 Health Benefits of Smoking
Live Science ^ | July 19, 2011 | Christopher Wanjek

Posted on 07/29/2011 6:16:58 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Who says smoking cigarettes is so bad ... well, aside from the World Health Organization, Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and every medical board and association on the face of the Earth?

But should smokers be fortunate enough to dodge all that cancer, heart disease, emphysema and the like, they will be uniquely protected — for reasons unexplained by science — against a handful of diseases and afflictions.

Call it a silver lining in their otherwise blackened lungs. Although long-term smoking is largely a ticket to early death, here are (gulp) five possible benefits from smoking. Breathe deep.

1. Smoking lowers risk of knee-replacement surgery

While smokers might go broke buying a pack of cigarettes, they can at least save money by avoiding knee-replacement surgery. Surprising results from a new study have revealed that men who smoke had less risk of undergoing total joint replacement surgery than those who never smoked.

The study, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, appears in the July issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. What could be the connection? Knee-replacement surgery was more common among joggers and the obese; smokers rarely jog, and they are less likely to be morbidly obese.

After controlling for age, weight and exercise, the researchers were at a loss to explain the apparent, albeit slight protective effects of smoking for osteoporosis. It could be that the nicotine in tobacco helps prevent cartilage and joint deterioration.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: aging; benefits; health; smoking
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To: Judith Anne

SheLion and Max McGarrity (aka Spinner.) Max is how both SheLion and I wound up here. When I got the call we had lost Max, She Lion was one of the first I called. I didn’t want her reading it here or elsewhere without knowing.

BTW, smoking wasn’t the cause of us losing either one of them.


61 posted on 07/29/2011 9:22:24 PM PDT by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: Gabz

Every time I see a smoking thread I think of her. *sigh*


62 posted on 07/29/2011 9:27:21 PM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

I bumped it - good call - great memory...


63 posted on 07/29/2011 9:27:44 PM PDT by GOPJ (Honk if I'm paying for your car, your mortgage, and your big, fat Greek bailout - mewzilla)
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To: Judith Anne

I know. I also understand.


64 posted on 07/29/2011 9:29:46 PM PDT by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: Mad Dawg

Cigarette smoke has anti-inflammatory properties. Way long ago, it used to be considered helpful for asthma, because it lowered the inflammation. Tobacco smoke lowers the immune response, which in pneumonia can be the source of symptoms, same with asthma.

When my step mother quit smoking, she immediately began to have allergy problems she’d never had before.


65 posted on 07/29/2011 9:36:35 PM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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66 posted on 07/29/2011 10:15:18 PM PDT by RedMDer (Abolish FReepathons. Be a monthly donor.)
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To: Judith Anne

Yep. Same with my mom. No problems until she quit smoking, then developed Chron’s disease. Not to mention, she put on weight which she still carries. As a doctor, I always tell people to not smoke. But the fact of the matter is smoking has SOME beneficial effects. For example in schizophrenics. The long term effects are bad, obviously. But there’s a reason people have smoked for centuries. They were getting some kind of medicinal relief.


67 posted on 07/29/2011 11:43:56 PM PDT by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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To: boop

I didn’t know there was a benefit to schizophrenics...


68 posted on 07/29/2011 11:53:37 PM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: Judith Anne

They’re not sure whether it is a cause or correlation, but schizophrenics report that it helps control their symptoms. About 50% of pt’s with schizophrenia (now often diagnosed as bipolar) smoke. Supposedly smoking also shows some benefit in Alzheimer’s as well.


69 posted on 07/29/2011 11:57:28 PM PDT by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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To: boop

I’m a retired nurse, and at one time worked on an Alzheimer’s unit. I recall a patient who used to have a cigarette in the afternoon with a cup of real coffee, and was able to have a short coherent conversation as a result, although it didn’t change her basic disease progression. Too bad she couldn’t live with her smokes and her caffeine all the time, might have slowed it down...

I’m a smoker, about 5-10 per day depending on the stress level. No doctor has ever told me to quit.


70 posted on 07/30/2011 12:06:10 AM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: boop

Also, I’m thinking that for patients with metabolic syndrome, keeping the weight down might help mitigate some of the cardiac risk factors as well as delaying the onset of diabetes.


71 posted on 07/30/2011 12:10:40 AM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: Mad Dawg

My Dad died last year of congestive heart failure and the only thing that eased his coughing in the last two months of his life was taking a drag on a cigarette.


72 posted on 07/30/2011 12:16:25 AM PDT by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; Judith Anne; boop; Gabz; GOPJ; BraveMan; Joe 6-pack; KrisKrinkle; ...
Here's your sign!




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Please click here to help keep the lights on at Free Republic.

73 posted on 07/30/2011 12:31:10 AM PDT by bd476
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To: mass55th
Our oldest sister is an alcoholic who has been institutionalized for over 40 years.

Where is she institutionalized, a bar?

74 posted on 07/30/2011 2:48:50 AM PDT by Rudder (The Main Stream Media is Our Enemy---get used to it.)
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To: SheLion; Gabz; Hank Kerchief; 383rr; libertarian27; traviskicks; bamahead; CSM; valkyrieanne; ...

Nanny State PING!


75 posted on 07/30/2011 3:01:46 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (It's the Tea Party's fault!)
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To: Drango; Eric Blair 2084
2084 is working on his kids to reject the evils of statism and accept the pleasures of nicotine.

If ya gotta choose one or the other, that's the right way to go.


76 posted on 07/30/2011 3:34:20 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Rudder
Where is she institutionalized, a bar?

Well, if ya GOTTA be institutionalized....

77 posted on 07/30/2011 3:40:57 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Rudder

Glad you find it amusing. No, she hasn’t been institutionalized in a bar. She’s spent all of these years in state psychiatric centers, and has most recently been in adult assisted living facilities for the past 10 years. She suffers from organic brain damage, schizophrenia, and dementia among other things, all caused by the aging process, the effects of alcohol on the brain, as well as the long-term effects of the psychotropic drugs she’s been medicated with.


78 posted on 07/30/2011 6:27:20 AM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Still Thinking

79 posted on 07/30/2011 6:49:29 AM PDT by Drango (NO-vember is payback for April 15th)
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To: KrisKrinkle

IIRC, Bob Dole said he never would have survived the war without smoking.


80 posted on 07/30/2011 6:55:55 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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