I know there are some people out there who are reading my blogs. I am actually quite surprised to see the number of people that were interested in reading my one blog about Aspies and dating part 1 and part 1 of my nervous breakdown series. I found myself even more surprised that people wanted to read my Aspie sense of morals post as well. The numbers aren't staggering by any means. What I have found though is that the numbers did jump up a little bit after I joined wrongplanet.net forums and contributed a little bit to the forums there. I think the majority of my readers come from that website since I do have a link on my profile there to this blog.
I have decided to stray away from the Aspie thing for this post for one reason. I have decided to talk about what I have noticed about the health effects of smoking. It will be a bit of a story as well.
I first tried smoking a cigarette when I was 13. The majority of people that smoke their first cigarette will not likely inhale during the first cigarette and smart people will noticed this as well. I was busted cold on this and was told to properly inhale. I coughed hard for a minute and it was at that moment I decided to never smoke.
I was 19 years old and bought a pack of cigarettes one day. I remember deciding to try a pack of DuMaurier Regulars. After a couple days, I threw the pack out with about 16 cigarettes out and thought to myself that I would not do this again. I once again proved myself wrong as I was smoking some Captain Black cigarillos a year later on occasion. The cigarillos are something you are not supposed to inhale anyway, and I don't think I ever did. I went on vacation and didn't touch a cigarette until I hit college in January of 2007. I was not smoking regularly at first and was probably only smoking five or less a day for a good while. Eventually the habit picked up and I was smoking about 8-10 a day.
I started to exercise regularly when I was 22 years old. I had no issue with smoking and exercising and was rapidly increasing my endurance despite my smoking habit. I went from being able to run very little to being able to run 5 km by the end of 2008. In 2009, I was able to run a little more than that. I have been able to run 8-10 km in the last year and that was during a time period when I was not smoking. However, at the age of 22, I was partying a lot too and consuming a lot of alcohol and smoking a lot when out. Eventually this started causing me heartburn and I had to watch how much I drink and smoked for a while. Of course my fitness routine reduced the effects of acid reflux significantly and I was needing medication for my heartburn periodically rather than every day.
I turned 25 years old and started getting dizziness and headaches. I was doing weightlifting and cardio routines consistently as well. I was able to attribute one spell of dizziness and headaches to acid reflux. So I figured from then on I would just take my medication when I felt these symptoms. Of course, things got bad at one point and the dizziness and headaches would come and go at least twice a month. I went to a doctor and based on the acid reflux diagnosis, I was given a blood test to take to determine whether I had stomach bacteria causing this issue for me. The test came back negative and I was clean of any bacteria. Yet I was still a smoker and I was still feeling dizziness from my chosen lifestyle. I did a lot of lifting at work as well and was working quite hard as well. I would find myself sick at least 2-3 times a week for the next while.
I decided one day to quit smoking using a book by a man named Allen Carr called "Easy Way to Quit Smoking" It helped me quit and I noticed a lot of energy in myself after I quit and the dizziness and headaches were significantly reduced and almost non existent. I never once took any pills for acid reflux during this time period as well. My fitness levels went up and I was able to lift heavier weights without feeling as tired or having as much pain in my chest from the smoking. I was doing pretty good. Eventually, the girl from the story I had in part 6 of my nervous breakdown series was a factor in my relapsing on my habit. I remember being quite arrogant during this time period as well.
I was not as physically active during the time period after I relapsed and I noticed that the headaches and dizziness weren't that severe either. I was able to make the connection there that working out and smoking has a drastic effect on your body. Sure working out makes you feel great about your own body, but the two lifestyle factors were working against eachother in a very harmful way. I also noticed that I was more likely to get heartburn from smoking.
So the point of this blog was simple. I understand everyone is different and each person can handle these kind of things differently from the next person. I am still a smoker today and I would advise people that like being physically fit that aren't smoking to never try it or if you had quit to never start again. What I told you is that smoking and physical fitness does not mix well. You may be fine at first, but the more intense you go with your workout routines, the more likely you will have your smoking habit and workout habits work against eachother in a harmful way. This is what I noticed as a 10-12 cigarettes a day type of smoker.
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