When efforts go up in smoke: tobacco and sport

Not only do cigarettes take your breath away, but they also make physical activity dangerous. Training and performance have everything to gain from smoking cessation.

No, sport does not clean the lungs and outdoor physical activity does not compensate for the effects of smoking. Smoking during, before, or after exercise is even dangerous. Many athletes do not know it and many doctors do not proclaim it enough.

Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen

For Professor Thomas, it should be put in the first place. And for good reason: not only are sports smokers exposed to the same risks as all other smokers (cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory failure, etc.), but they add complications related to their sports practice by disrupting the oxygen supply. to the muscles, heart, and lungs. The explanation lies in the approximately 4000 harmful substances that make up cigarette smoke, starting with carbon monoxide (CO). Resulting from the combustion of tobacco, the latter binds 200 times more to hemoglobin than oxygen (O) which takes its place in the blood. It also binds to myoglobin, a muscle contraction protein.

The muscles and the heart undergo asphyxiation proportional to this oxygen deficit. The CO thus diverts the aerobic energy metabolism (whose fuel is oxygen) towards the anaerobic sector, which produces lactic acid. The latter is quickly incompatible with effort when shortness of breath no longer allows you to speak (ventilatory threshold). Endurance activities based on oxygen consumption (VO2 max) are the most affected. The lack of available oxygen forces the heart to increase its frequency to ensure the same blood supply. But this increase becomes ineffective when the heart no longer has time to fill up, which further slows down activity. “Young athletes who are limited in an effort by their smoking do not necessarily feel it. They only take the measure of this handicap once weaned, when they see their performance increase,” notes Daniel Thomas.

Nicotine increases blood pressure

Another enemy: nicotine, which stimulates specific cardiac and arterial receptors (like adrenaline does). "Each cigarette causes a reduction in the caliber of the arteries, an acceleration of the heart rate, and an increase in blood pressure", explains Professor Thomas. This effect is in addition to the natural adrenergic influences of exercise (increased cardiac output and blood pressure), which lowers athletic performance.

We run out of steam early, we capitulate more quickly, sometimes on the verge of discomfort. The risk is myocardial infarction by arterial spasm on narrowings of the arteries of the heart (coronaropathy). These are more common in people over 50 and are due to atheroma by excess cholesterol and inflammation related to fine particles of tobacco smoke. Even among the youngest, the risk is not zero: “It is not uncommon to see in smokers, even sportsmen, infarctions with coronary arteries without visible deformation on chromatographic examination”, alerts the cardiologist.

Tobacco smoke also contains a large number of free radicals which attack the arterial walls. This oxidative stress promotes atheroma. The arterial surface becomes "rough", can crack, and cause the aggregation of blood platelets in a clot (thrombosis), a source of infarction. This cascade of events can occur at any time, particularly in the event of dehydration, which is common during sports practice. The heart risk then skyrockets during yet another “innocuous” cigarette, such as the one smoked after a football match with friends.

Chemicals in tobacco smoke

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for people to consider quitting. You might know already that tobacco smoke contains several harmful chemicals.

Tobacco is known to contain at least 7,000 chemicals, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful. Of these 250 harmful chemicals, at least 69 can cause cancer.

If you’ve been smoking for a long time or you find it difficult to quit, remember that there are a lot of devices on the market that can help you quit.

If you’d like to talk about your options, please contact me and I will work with you on finding the best solution for your needs.