To wonder if people were actually healthier when everyone smoked

[Fragmentedbrain]

(I have never smoked and used to hate going to bars etc that stank of smoke so this is a very against my own interests question but)

Smoking makes people thinner (it just does)

Cigarettes can be good for people with anxiety

Smoking is a social activity and social connection is good for health

Should we try and get a tiny bit more going?

(Not me I still don't want my hair to smell)

Except in France they've banned smocking in nearly all public places.

You can always count of the French for style 😂

There are some benefits to smoking (reduced appetite, reduced weight generally, boosted metabolism) beneficial to some people with mental health problems such as anxiety.

However, the cons by far outstrip any pros.

Alcohol is now to what cigarettes was then. In a couple of decades alcohol will be something only "old people" do too. (Thank god)

Smoking is absolutely NOT good for people with anxiety and is one of the many reasons quit. Your heart rate increases and exacerbates anxiety symptoms

I’m in my early 70s. I knew several thin people who smoked. Knew is the operative word, they have sadly died. Some of my more chubby friends are still enjoying life quite happily. Of course the healthiest neither smoked nor were significantly overweight but smoking was definitely the biggest predictor of poor health and early death.

My job is to price life insurance. When we underwrite one of the key questions is are you a smoker because your life expectancy is so significantly reduced when a smoker. So the statistics and don’t seem to be agreeing with your theory…

My father smoked a lot and he's aged early 70s now. He's always had problems with obesity. On the whole, he's probably been lucky to have not had more serious problems, but it's caught up with him in later years. He stopped smoking about three years ago due to COPD. Smoking is never a good idea.

Smoking probably did help him cope with his undiagnosed neurodiversity and anxiety, but there are other ways of doing that, just as there are other ways of dealing with his weight issues.

It also affects my memories of him as a father. If there wasn't money for food, there was always money for smokes.

Smoke and you wouldn't be able to afford takeaway.

Yes they can.
Online pharmacies all sell it.

Of course there were some fat people in the 50’s 60’s and 70’s, but watch any documentary from that era but you’ll be shocked how thin people were in general.

Also the current wave of obese children, teenagers and younger adults haven’t reached old age yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. Life expectancy is bound to fall though.

Nobody would smoke if they really understood what it’s like to die from any of the many diseases it causes .
The very idea that people who smoke could be healthier is horrific to those of us who have watched people dying from the effects of cigarette smoking . My very first nursing job in a hospital when I was 17 was caring for a man dying of lung cancer . Day by day he had less and less surface area in his lungs which could take up oxygen . He effectively drowned slowly and made me promise him ( between horrific gasps ) that I would never smoke & I would tell people about him .
No one who has worked with patients suffering from head & neck cancer , as I went on to do ,would ever suggest smoking was better for people’s health . Such cancers and their treatment are the stuff of nightmares.
My Mum is currently dying from right sided heart failure caused by exposure to secondary smoke at the moment after running a pub for many years . My grandfather died of oral cancer & my father of bladder cancer - primary cause of both - smoking . Horrific deaths .
The tobacco companies suppressed the info re cancer for profit for as long as they could .
Utter wickedness .

I've pondered this. Back in the day the message was the one thing people could do to improve health was to stop smoking. Now few people smoke but we're more unhealthy than ever. I wonder which is the lesser of two evils.

YABU because they may have seemed healthy at the time but the number of older people with COPD due to smoking as well as heart disease and lung cancer is enormous

I get what you are saying OP. My parents smoke. Of their siblings they are the most mobile (due to significantly lower weight). However I think they are sadly heading into the danger decade. So life expectancy will likely be less.

Of my peers; I smoke. But not many of my friends are overweight. We are all equally mobile and functioning. I am sure they are much healthier than me, and when I (if!) reach my parents age I am sure they will be much much healthier than me.

So I get what you are saying. But it’s not that smoking is healthy. It’s that obesity is in many ways can be worse than smoking.

Also having a mouth like a cats bum 😂

Something like 97% of smokers don’t get lung cancer, but that’s not really the point - there are so many other health risks associated with smoking.

It has more to do with minimal screens, properly active lifestyles, minimal processed food

My father in law died of cancer last year and didn't touch a cigarette in his life! This is a stupid statement!

You are confusing correlation with causation.

People ate sensible portions, didn't spend the day snacking, and got more exercise back then.

It was also fine to point and stare and mock fat people. There was a lot of pressure to be thin. Women in particular were always dieting (Slimcia bread anyone?)

I don't believe that if everyone was given 'permission' to smoke again it would stop the overeating. Also, don't forget the effects of passive smoking on other people, especially children. It was not a good experience being a child in the 60s surrounded by smoking adults.

Smoking doesn’t help with anxiety. That’s a myth. It’s like saying using heroin makes you happier.

Smoking causes nicotine addiction. When a nicotine addict goes into withdrawal one of the withdrawal symptoms is anxiety. That might be an hour after their last fag or several hours depending on their level of dependency. As soon as they get a hit of nicotine the withdrawal symptoms pass and they feel better. Just as a heron addict relaxes when they shoot up. Or a sugar addict feels better after a plate of biscuits.

I’m my sixties and have never smoked but like most people my age I grew up surrounded by adult smokers. Plenty of them were fat. Several of them died of related illnesses. All of them smelt revolting and the furniture and soft furnishings of our various houses were riddled with burn marks and ceilings were always a delightful shade of nicotine yellow. .

My much loved granny chain smoked unfiltered Woodbines and was also very fat. I’m physically very like her ( same narrow frame, big boobs, similar proportions, similar height) and I am very slim. Possibly because I eat salads and don’t own a chip pan!

I’m guessing both are dead…

Lots of people were exposed to both environmental pollutants and second hand smoke in workplaces, entertainment venues, and on public transport back in the day.

Smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer.

Yes nicotine is an appetite suppressant. I don’t know the benefit vs cost/damage analysis on heath when obesity and smoking are compared.
nicotine is also good for cognitive function and prevent Alzheimer’s etc (however not via smoking).
so you may have a point to an extend.

I think this coincided with more active lifestyles as a baseline rather than the cigarettes being responsible. But I could hold my breath longer when I smoked - think it’s because you’re always taking big breaths in. Buuut I couldn’t climb up a hill without feeling like passing out. Smelt awful I’d imagine but did relax for five minutes 6(10/15/20) times a day which I find hard to do now. I’d probably still go for the no smoking over the smoking though.. a little healthier overall id imagine…if I had to guess…what with the whole cancer thing. Also, did you say you weren’t a smoker? If you saw the crap you cough up every morning even as a lightish smoker, you wouldn’t be asking this. But good to question things.