Long term effects of Smoking
- Smoking increases the chance of a heart disease, one reason for this increase in heart disease is that if the deposits of fat and cholesterol cigarettes make on the blood vessels goes unchecked, these vessels become hardened and thin, particularly in the heart and the brain, which leads to the always negative consequence of lowering the blood flow to these vital areas.
- One of the most known long term effect is the large increase in the chances of developing lung cancer.
- A large increase in the chances of developing emphysema, chronic bronchitis, respiratory infections (incidences of coughs), and cancer of the larynx mouth, oesophagus and pancreas.
- A smoker may find themselves more and more often short of breath.
- Long term smoking can also cause stomach ulcers, bad breath continuing indefinitely, stained teeth, stained fingers and nails, wrinkling of the skin (so it appears aged prematurely), unhealthy in appearance, decrease in fertility, a decrease in the likely birth weight of a baby born to a smoker, an increase in the chances of miscarriages, complications at birth and complications in the baby’s development in the womb, a large increase in the chances of developing cervical cancer.
Short term effects of alcohol:
- Reduced inhibitions, consuming alcohol changes behavior. Reduced inhibition can mean the drinker becomes more likely to engage in activities they would otherwise not participate (E.g. illegal drug use).
- Loss of muscle control - causing slurred speech, unclear judgment and poor coordination.
- Memory loss and/or “Blackouts”- alcohol acts as a depressant slowing the brain’s control mechanisms, causing certain situations and events not to be remembered.
- Alcohol can cause nausea, vomiting, this can be a result of the body trying to protect itself against the alcohol or a result of alcohol affecting a person’s sense of balance and orientation which can lead to a feeling of nausea.
- Headaches, hangovers can be felt a few hours after consuming alcohol. This happens due to the body becoming dehydrated due to alcohol consumption.
- Alcohol can also make a person act seriously disoriented and confused (Stupor)
- The most dangerous short term effect that alcohol can have on someone is coma, a life-threatening condition.
- Just like the capillaries in your skin, the blood vessels in your eyes will dilate, leading to bloodshot eyes.
- Alcohol can cause users to become aggressive.
Long-term effects of alcohol
- Alcohol contains a lot of calories which can cause a weight increase or/and bad eating habits.
- Alcohol can cause loads of physical problems cirrhosis or cancer of the liver; breast cancer; damage to the heart muscle; high blood pressure; obesity; infertility; strokes; heart disease; diabetes; impotence or other sexual problems; ulcers; alcohol poisoning.
- Alcohol affects a person’s mental state for a long term by causing depression; suicidal tendencies; personality breakdown; inability to concentrate; affected sexual performance; dementia; hallucinations; memory loss and blackouts; mood swings.
- Addiction (alcoholism)
- Mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may give birth to infants with fetal alcohol syndrome. These infants may suffer from mental retardation and other irreversible physical abnormalities.
- Long-term effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol, especially when combined with poor nutrition, can lead to permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain and liver.
Explain how smoking will affect your sporting performance.
Smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke decreases oxygen to your lungs causing you to take breaths more often, this would slow you down if you were doing an endurance activity (marathon). Tobacco increases heart rate causing you to tire quicker, once again this would not be useful, especially if you are doing a sport for a long time (e.g. long distance). Smoking increases the time taken for your heart rate to return to normal which leads to increased recovery times, this could mean that you would have to wait longer between events, you would see the effect of this if for instance you were doing a circuit training. Slower reaction speed is another effect that smoking could have on your sporting performance; this would affect your performance in a 100m race where you need quick reactions at the start of the race. Smoking affects your visual judgment, this wouldn’t be helpful if you were practicing archery as you would miss more times than usual. Tobacco decreases oxygen supplied to the muscles which would decrease the performance in any sport. Overall, if you don’t smoke you are able to perform at your peak for longer, recover from injuries faster, build fitness levels quicker and have a larger aerobic capacity.
Explain how alcohol will affect your sporting performance.
Alcohol can increase the risk of muscle cramps, this happens if you drink in the 24 hour period before the event. This obviously is something not wanted by any performer as it increases the lactic acid in the muscles causing muscle fatigue, which will stop the performer from training. Alcohol increases the bleeding and swelling around injured soft tissue requiring a longer recovery period, this means that you can’t train for longer time as you need to recover from the injury. Because the liver is used to breakdown alcohol, it cannot release glucose into the bloodstream efficiently therefore you have less energy and less endurance capacity, which obviously isn’t good if you are doing a long distance event. Alcohol is a sedative, so it reduces reactions like hand-eye coordination. These slower reactions wouldn’t be helpful at the start of a 100m race or when hitting a ball in tennis as you would react to them slower. Alcohol reduces the production of the anti-diuretic hormone, causing you to urinate more and therefore becoming dehydrated, this causes training to be very hard as you feel tired and dizzy. Alcohol reduces the aerobic performance of a long distance athlete by lowering the carbohydrate levels, by increasing the buildup of lactic acid and by causing dehydration.