Smoking Slows Memory, Reasoning in Middle-Aged Men

[slimvictor]

New evidence suggests that smoking isn't only bad for the body but can also take a toll on the mind.

A study published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry linked smoking to faster, more dramatic age-related mental decline in men.

Researchers from University College in London studied more than 5,000 men and 2,000 women from Britain's long-running Whitehall II study, which has surveyed the health of thousands of British civil service employees.

The researchers studied each participant's performance on tests of memory, verbal skills and reasoning over a period of 10 years, beginning when the participants were about 56 years old. They found that men who smoked showed a greater decline in these mental functions than those who had never smoked.

Smoking seemed to speed up the cognitive aging process, making men function mentally as if they were 10 years older, said Severine Sabia, the study's lead author.

"For example, a 50-year-old male smoker shows a similar cognitive decline as a 60-year-old male never-smoker," she said.

cont at
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/smokin...en-study-finds/story?id=15524659#.TzDOxph3FG4

 

[Biovail]

"Survey with unaccounted for variables points toward baffling conclusion."

 

[Crankinit]

Yeah I don't see how you can take that at face value. I mean smoking is bad for so many other parts of the body, so I don't necessarily reject the possibility that it's bad for the brain as well, but without controls for other drug use, once you factor in the fact that smokers are far more likely to be uses of other substances (and vice versa for non-smokers), a study like this is basically meaningless.

And honestly, I don't think it would make a difference. There are already so many unique and interesting ways for smoking to end your life or destroy your health, I don't think a little mental decline is going to change smoker's minds at this stage.