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)

Should we try and get a tiny bit more going?
Not me I still don't want my hair to smell

I know you’re probably trying to be tongue in cheek but it’s really distasteful advocating carcinogenic and harmful habits for others whilst keeping yourself smoke free.

My dad smoked most of his life and we lost him through pancreatic cancer when he was 55 which emaciated and ravaged his body.

So the tongue in cheek goadiness is in really bad taste, give it a fucking rest.

A-hem… imma gonna apply your logic and go even further! Ideally people should quit drinking too… and walk more, use public transport & bicycles (when air is better quality then there’s less cancerogenes too). Then we best to eat seasonal produce and not too much sugar. Heck, I’ve got a solution! We need to make everyone poor so that no one can afford drinking, smoking, cars or indulgent food. Then everyone will be healthy & most importantly thin! As added benefit… misery loves company… so united by the common enemy in the face of poverty, people will come together in their communities and live happily ever after?

I have a retired Dr relative that is convinced that a big part of the the overweight/obesity crisis is because we have central heating, says that in the past we would use a LOT of energy to keep warm. 🤔

No need for the OR.

And better transportation, driving everywhere, has stopped us from walking/cycling as we used to.

If anyone is tempted to take up smoking to stay or get slim or calm their nerves I highly recommend googling the subject of head and neck cancer , complete with images , first .

Both DF and DM died from COPD, as did ex-DH. My DP has COPD and has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. He is still smoking, and is basically now terminally ill. He can't have a biopsy as his chest is too bad, do they don't even know what type of lung cancer he has. I quit smoking 18 years ago, but didn't manage to swerve COPD. Mine is mild to moderate.

I am obese, mainly due to major mobility issues. I can see what OP is getting at. Have we just swapped one lot of chronic illnesses for another? Respiratory issues vs obesity.

I think you're mistaking correlation for causation. There are lots of other things that have changed in the last decade or two that have made people more likely to be obese or socially isolated.

Very few people were obese in the 70s. You only have to look at photos and film footage from that era to see it.

Also, my dad died of lung cancer Extremely underweight (also, alcoholic tbf) but a heavy smoker so maybe you have a point.

There are and have been plenty of obese smokers.

Try telling it to Roy Castle.

That is a very good point.

I also think people were more active in general even office jobs were more active, getting things from filing cabinets dealing with it, putting it back in the cabinets.

Now everything pops up on a screen in front of you.

My concern is that nobody knows the long term side-effects of GLPs.

Smoking is one of the worse things you can do for your health next to excessive amounts of alcohol, that’s just a scientific fact (obviously as an ‘average’ person, a heroin addict or the like, will obviously have it worse).

I think you’re romanticising the past as humans are prone to do when they’re being retrospective. There exists a cognitive bias where we’re prone to remembering our past lived experiences more positively than they were in reality - this is also a scientific fact! We’re also more aware of the prevalence of depression and anxiety etc. due to how widespread information is since the internet has become part of our daily lives. There are SO many psychological reasons why things seem worse nowadays when statistically, that’s not the case.

There will always be those outliers we know of e.g. ‘Doris smoked 60 a day since she was 10 and she lived to be 100!’, but for every Doris there’s probably 10 dead from lung disease.

Even some sprinters. Shirley Strong, 100m hurdles, smoked 40 a day and had the odd smoke after a race. She won silver at 1978 Commonwealth Games, gold at 1982 Commonwealth Games, and silver at 1984 Olympics. She held the British record from 1980 to 1988.

She’s 66 now and still going strong (excuse the pun).

I don’t know what the science says, but IME there was definitely a correlation with smoking, eating and weight: people who smoked would eat less and/or people who were hungry smoked to quell their appetite.

There was plenty of high calorie food and big portions back in the day (chips, bread and dripping, pies, cake). But what I remember being different was sugar. There was nowhere near as much sugar. And eating wasn’t the pastime it is now. People generally only ate when they were hungry, almost always sitting at a table and never out of a packet when at home.

Plus cars. Most people walked or cycled. My grandparents lived their entire lives without a car. Not only did it mean people had more exercise, they also had to think carefully about what food to buy as they had to carry it home.

IMHO it’s the entire lifestyle. If you smoke occasionally but spend most of your time outside in fresh air being physically active and eat healthy food, that’s v different to someone who spends most of their time chain smoking indoors while sitting around eating junk food.

There are no health benefits to smoking. None. There are plenty of other ways of dealing with anxiety that is not smoking. Same with obesity.

I lost two grandparents to smoking. One lost lung and was very disabled for years. The other had a stroke.

I agree. We are inundated now with UPFs and our lives are generally much more sedentary. It's not just about smoking decreasing our appetites; it's about our lifestyle these days as a whole.

Also a way of occupying your mouth other than eating.

We were shown real lungs (preserved) from dead people at senior school. Healthy lungs and the lungs of a smoker. They looked just like these photos. Straight afterwards, quite a few boys disappeared behind the bike sheds for a cigarette.

Wtaf is going on with mn these days?? Bloody fruit loops everywhere!!

So yes, we still had fat people then.

Should we try and get a tiny bit more going?

No.

To get people healthier we need to stop eating ultra processed foods, takeaways. Walk more. Less screen time, more time in nature. Wearing SPF. Drinking more water. Healthy work life balance. Less binge drinking. More human interaction.

In the 70s my mum and dad smoked and they both died of cancer

wind your neck in OP

Less people being overweight and suffering from anxiety wasn’t just down to smoking

I miss the mindfulness of smoking, just five minutes, lunchtime going for walk at work, something about it makes me wistful.
But the cost, smell, bad breath and health worries. No thanks.