Did you know that more predisposed to memory problems are middle-age smokers?
It is known that smoking is a health hazards, scientists found also that smoking is tied to memory loss especially in middle-age smokers.
Severine Sabia, French researcher, said: "Dementia is rare among middle-aged people, but cognitive function at this age in closely related to dementia. Our results show that smoking is associated with poorer cognition and decline over five years."
For the study, the researchers collected data on 10,308 British civil servants who ranged in age from 35 to 55 and they were asked about their smoking habits. Nearly 5,400 people completed tests of memory, reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency in 1999. Five year later, 4,659 of the study participants were retested.
During the first round of cognitive testing, people who smoked ranked in the lowest 20 percent of all those examined, compared with people who had never smoked. But, people who were ex-smokers were 30 percent less likely to have poor vocabulary and low verbal frequency scores than current smokers.
The researchers also found that ex-smokers had better overall health habits than smokers. They drank less alcohol, exercised more and ate more fruits and vegetables.
Sabia reported: "Our results suggest that smoking had an adverse effect on cognitive function. Thus, public health messages should target smokers at all ages."
But there is a fundamental question: Are people stupid because they smoke or do they smoke because they are stupid?
Quit smoking before the smoke get you.
