To wonder if people were actually healthier when everyone smoked

Volunteer on your local respiratory ward looking after people with COPD due to smoking. You’ll soon change your tune.

I think maybe you're dismissing too quickly the fact that hardly anyone was obese when smoking was commonplace

And when, concurrently, fast food was a rare treat not a daily habit.

And when UPFs were rarities, not stuffed into every product.

And when people moved their bodies more, as part of normal daily life.

And when people didn't feel the need to eat constantly, not only between meals but when on public transport, or walking along on the street.

My grandad smoked about 60 a day, likely more when he was younger, spent time in Japanese POW camp during WW2, and lived until he was 98. He walked to the pub every day, sometimes twice a day and was not fat at all.

Yes I am with you OP. I also feel sorry that my children aren’t going to experience excitement and community spirit of ‘going down the pub’ on a weekend. Mental health is just as important as physical. I don’t smoke anymore, but I believe I started to get through some difficult times as a teenager. Nobody ever seems to consider the positives.

Tell this to my grandmother who died from throat cancer at the age of 42 in the 70s leaving behind 4 children, the youngest was 7 (my mother) who has no memory of her own mother 👍🏻

Correlation is not causation

I don't know anyone who smokes. Even the shelters pubs brought in aren't used so have been dismantled. I think a packet of cigarettes is £16 these days. That's incredibly expensive. I guess that the taxes worked

I think maybe you're dismissing too quickly the fact that hardly anyone was obese when smoking was commonplace

when are we talking?

When my brother died in 2024 of smoking-related cancer at 56, leaving a son of 14, he was dead skinny.

Dead. And skinny. Or skinny. And dead. Doesn’t actually matter which. He’s still dead.

I'd have preferred him obese and alive, frankly.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable.

Jeanne Calment lived for more than 2 years past the age of 120; no one else has lived to that age. Her relative longevity is much more impressive than most records (eg Usain Bolt’s in the 100m). Perhaps the majority of women smoked when she was a young adult, but a large proportion didn’t. (Male smoking more universal in those years.) If smoking was so very bad for longevity how can the oldest ever person have smoked, and almost until her death?

I don’t deny that smoking is very bad for you. It would be inconceivable if Usain Bolt had lit up before the 100m. For many people it causes DNA damage that leads to cancer. But it doesn’t do this to everyone, manifestly. Perhaps we in fact spend too much time talking about the long-term consequences and too little time on the short-term ones.

I say all of this as a former smoker, then vaper, now free of both. For me, the problem with smoking was the dispiriting psychological fact of addiction. I never felt that it had such a profound impact on my health as many other choices.

Smoking just causes different cancers to obesity, so choose your poison.

Skinny doesn't automatically equal unhealthy op. You can be skinny and more unhealthy than an obese person.

Far less sedentary lifestyle than today

Much more walking

Physical work in the home

Totally different lifestyle

Also food was sold fresh in the 50s. Little pre-packaging and rationing didn't end till 1954

The facts that obesity rates were lower and smoking rates were higher are not related.

It was unknown how bad smoking was at time when portion sizes were smaller, there weren’t takeaways on every corner and supermarket shelves weren’t filled with highly addictive, highly calorific UPF crap.

As time has passed, the dangers of smoking have become more widely known, cigarette packs have warnings on them and smoking in public places was banned. In the same period, food intake, especially unhealthy food, has increased significantly due to its increased availability. It’s called a coincidence.

Have you watched anyone die from a smoking-related illness?

That would answer your question

Where are the statistics for the percentage of people who had anxiety before the smoking ban?

You cannot seriously believe that smoking is healthy and society would improve if people did it more?

I am sorry you are getting so much stick, OP, I think that this is a very interesting thought exercise.

Clearly smoking has downsides for health. Not a ton of upsides, but does it tend to exist in concert with other behaviours that are positive?

Was the population overall healthier when people did smoke - it might have been. Not necessarily because of smoking as such, however.

I do think it's worth challenging the assumption that a longer life is always better. It is the case that as we have extended people's years, we have not necessarily extended their healthy years. So that's an interesting point. We've also extended the number of people who make it to the most expensive years of old age.

I don't know that it means people should be encouraged to smoke. But it puts rather a differernt spin on trying to discourage it.

Most people in my family were smokers and fat. I dont think the thinness was all down to smoking but probably other factors like more manual work, more walking, smaller portions etc

I hate smoking. Both my parents died at around 70 from it - mum lung cancer and dad emphysema. But I can see your point. Let people choose to smoke if they enjoy it. Smokers do put strain on the NHS but they would do the same at a later date from other complex health conditions. There’s massive pressure on the NHS when people live longer and have multiple conditions. Not many people live to an old age with no suffering and die peacefully in their sleep. What’s the point in extending life for so long - enjoy your best healthy years while you can.

I suppose death is a pretty effective way of keeping your weight down…

Lucky you

One parent in their 50s and the other in their 70s

And yes they were slimmer - because they were bloody ill!!

And dying of emphysema or cancer does not make you happy

20 Benson and Hedges cost £16.50. If you’re on ten a day, that’s £55 a week. It’s cheaper to get Mounjaro privately. Without the whole pesky lung cancer and emphysema business.

Anyway, I’m only here for the deletion message.

It not not smoking that’s made people fat…it’s food.

Oh it is

I’m sorry so your solution to obesity is smoking? That’s just shifting the problem. Both are unhealthy.

and I disagree that people don’t think about health. We do more now that’s ever before - partly because we have more accurate information.