According to a recent study by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, smoking cigarettes shrinks the brain (WashUMed). Additionally linked to a higher incidence of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and cognitive impairment is brain shrinkage.
The findings of the study demonstrate that stopping smoking at any moment prevented additional gray matter loss. However, once shrinkage happens, the brain does not regain its initial mass. Smoking has long been known to be bad for the heart and lungs, but its effects on the brain have received less attention from researchers.
The research team sought to close a knowledge vacuum about the detrimental impacts of smoking, under the direction of senior author Dr. Laura J. Bierut, director of WashUMed’s Health & Behavior Research Center.
Smoking increases the risk of dementia and shrinks the brain:
According to earlier studies (Trusted Source), smokers have a higher risk of dementia. According to estimates, smoking may be to blame for 14% of Alzheimer’s cases (Trusted Source).
Disentangling behavioral and genetic variables is necessary to examine the relationship between brain shrinkage and cigarette smoking.
Genes can affect both brain shrinkage and the urge to smoke; according to the authors, heredity accounts for almost half of an individual’s predilection for smoking.
The researchers took into account variables including brain volume and genetic susceptibility to smoking. They concluded that although smoking may be inherited, smoking is a major cause of brain shrinkage.
The UK Biobank’s 2019 data releases are analyzed in this report. It featured brain-imaging data from 32,094 subjects who were of European heritage. The participants admitted to smoking on their own.
Researchers determined the number of years that smokers who reported consuming one pack or twenty cigarettes per day smoked cigarettes. Their brain images were contrasted with those of nonsmokers and smokers who had smoked less than 100 cigarettes. There was increased brain shrinkage in those who smoked more.
Why does cognitive decline result from the shrinking of the brain?
The loss of neurons and the connections between them is a component of atrophy, or shrinkage, of the brain. The study did not involve Dr. Trinh. According to Dr. Trinh, this loss may affect the brain’s capacity to operate properly.
According to Dr. Trinh, certain vital regions diminish in diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia in general, which causes a loss of function. For instance, he pointed out that Alzheimer’s patients frequently exhibit severe atrophy in the hippocampus, an area essential for memory formation. A decrease in cognitive function may arise from this atrophy’s suppression of interregional connectivity in the brain.
Dr. Bierut observed that aging is linked to a decline in brain volume. Put another way, she claimed that smokers’ brains are “older.”
Smoking damages the brain
Dr. Bierut clarified that smoking exposes oneself to numerous harmful substances. She continued by saying that smokers’ blood oxygen levels are consistently lower.
According to Dr. Bierut, the brain is slowly starving itself since it loves oxygen and these prolonged low oxygen levels are starving it.
Dr. Trinh enumerated the several ways smoking can impair cognitive function. According to him, vascular injury can lower blood flow to the brain, which can cause atrophy and cell death.
Dr. Trinh mentioned how smoking causes oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which can harm brain cells and the structures that support them.
Cigarette smoke contains certain neurotoxic compounds that can cause direct harm to brain tissue.
According to Dr. Trinh, smoking alters the brain’s levels of several neurotransmitters, which over time may lead to atrophy and neurological damage.
Advantages of giving up smoking
According to Dr. Bierut, giving up smoking is among the most significant things you can do for your health. Your brain ages more quickly the longer and heavier you smoke. Another thing I always tell older smokers is that it’s never too late to give up. Even at a later age, quitting has health benefits.
Dr. Trinh also pointed out that not just adults need to give up smoking. Because the brains of teenagers and young adults are still developing, exposure to the negative consequences of smoking during these formative years may result in more severe long-term impairment, according to Dr. Trinh. It is a well-known fact that the potential lifelong harm from smoking increases with age.
Ways to Give Up Smoking
Dr. Robert Miller, an internal medicine specialist with Vista Staffing, a company that provides physician recruitment services nationwide, recommended a multimodal strategy for quitting smoking that includes counseling sessions.
The study did not involve Dr. Miller. According to him, supportive medication and behavioral modification are the goals of this strategy.
Dr. Miller listed seven FDA-approved drugs that can aid in quitting smoking, such as oral tablet pharmaceuticals; nicotine replacement therapies; and prescription drugs.
According to Dr. Miller, helping others break the habit and find success in achieving a common objective can support each person on their journey.
It could also be beneficial to substitute healthy pursuits like reading or working out for the craving to smoke.
Dr. Miller pointed out that some people discover that their need to smoke could be a reaction to specific stimuli. One way to kick the smoking habit is to recognize and stay away from personal triggers.
It is not thought that vaping is a secure or reliable method of quitting smoking for persons who are thinking about using e-cigarettes.