Smoking and Mental Well-Being: A Dangerous Dance
The combination of smoking and mental well-being has nothing but negative repercussions for you. But what do we really know about this relationship?
Smoking is bad for you; this is a well-established fact. You may read, here and there, that a glass of wine or a bottle of beer (a day) can have some benefits for your health, but you’ll never see anything similar about smoking. Tobacco smoke is nothing but trouble and, as such, should never be inhaled. Full stop!
The smoking culture has very deep historical roots.
This vice has come a long way from a “cool” and wanted habit to a known carcinogen and one of the leading causes of death among adults worldwide.
The fight to declare smoking a health hazard was a fierce one too, and it is still going on today with less intensity though.
Nowadays, even smokers do not deny the negative effects that smoking has on physical health. Smoking cannot be defended. The science-backed evidence is simply overwhelming.
But, what about the relationship between smoking and mental health?
Some strong connections seem to exist here too. Recently, researchers are increasingly suggesting that smoking could also be a major cause of depression and anxiety.
We bring you more in this article.
Smoking and Mental Well-Being
In the relationship between smoking and mental well-being one fact is 100% certain, smokers are prone to depression. At least, this is what statistics say. However, the relationship between the cause and the consequence remains unclear. Is it depression that makes people more likely to smoke or is it the other way around?
Some researchers claim that smoking should be blamed. One of them is Professor Hagai Levine from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel.
Professor Levine is the senior author of a recent study that takes a more detailed look at the connection between smoking and mental well-being.
He states that depression is two times more likely to occur in smokers. Related studies show that people who never smoked experience less depression and anxiety. They tend to have an overall better quality of life as well.
Smoking and Mental Well-Being, The Study
Professor Levine’s study took place among the smoking population in Serbia. In this Eastern European low-income country people who smoke makeup around one-quarter of the population. One-third of university students smoke too.
The research included 2,138 students from two universities in Serbia. The participants were required to provide information about their age, place of birth, parent’s education, lifestyle habits, exercise routine, diet, smoking status, alcohol use, and social status.
According to all the different parameters observed, such as:
- Physical functioning
- Vitality
- General health
- Social functioning, and
- Mental health
Smokers proved to be more prone to depression.
The students who smoke seem to be two to three times more likely to suffer from depression, compared to non-smokers.
Professor Levine concluded that mental health and smoking are closely related. He claims that the results of this study show a strong potential connection between smoking and depression, as well as with other mental health disorders.
So far, smoking has rarely been studied in his way. It’s extremely negative effects on physical health regularly got all the attention. However, smoking seems to leave its mark on mental health as well, and this is something that should not be easily overseen.
The human body has no need for tobacco smoke
The effects of smoking on health are extremely negative. Still, this remains a complex problem whose solution is burdened by tradition, addiction and the interest of the big business.
Smoking and Mental Well-Being, The Final Word
The connection between depression and smoking exists. Compared to non-smokers, the number of smokers suffering from different mental illnesses is significantly higher. The exact cause for this remains unclear until now. However, if we combine these findings together with the well-proven negative effects of smoking on physical health, it becomes clear that smoking is a heavy health hazard that needs to be eliminated.
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