Worse than we thought: Smoking harms your brain too, leading to sharp mental decline – Study

Smoking is known to be highly damaging to
physical health, being a major factor in cancer
and heart disease.
Now, however, its alarming effects on the
mental well-being of millions of smokers have
been outlined by British scientists.
Lighting up regularly has been associated with
a sharp decline in the performance of the
brain, according to their study.
They found that middle-aged smokers
performed less well on tests compared with
those without the tobacco habit.
The project examined memory, planning and
overall mental ability after four and eight years.
The tests included asking people to learn new
words or name as many animals as they could
in a minute.
Researchers concluded that smoking
‘consistently’ reduced all three performance
measures after four years.
They also found that high blood pressure and
being overweight took their toll of brainpower –
but not as much as smoking.
The team warned that people need to be aware
of the impact on their health of lifestyle
choices, like smoking.
Risk factor data was examined for more than
8,800 people aged 50 and over taking part in
the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
The researchers at King’s College London were
investigating links between the likelihood of a
heart attack or stroke and the state of the
brain.
Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol
levels and a high BMI all worsen the risk of
dementia
High blood pressure and high risk of stroke
were also associated with lower scores for
memory and overall mental ability after eight
years.
Being overweight was linked to poor memory,
according to the findings published in the
journal Age and Ageing. Lead scientist Dr Alex
Dregan said ‘Cognitive decline becomes more
common with ageing and, for an increasing
number of people, interferes with daily
functioning and well-being.
‘We have identified a number of risk factors
which could be associated with accelerated
cognitive decline, all of which could be
modifiable. This offers valuable knowledge for
prevention and treatment interventions.’
The researchers said their results indicate that
high blood pressure has a gradual effect on the
brain over a long period.
This could explain why short-term trials of
blood pressure drugs being used to treat
mental decline failed to show a clear benefit.
Recent laboratory research suggested a
compound in tobacco called NNK provokes
white blood cells in the central nervous system
to attack healthy cells, leading to severe
neurological damage. There are almost 10
million smokers in the UK. The habit is still by
far the biggest single cause of preventable
illness and premature death.
It is a major contributory factor in causing
heart disease and 39,000 lung cancer cases
each year.
Dr Simon Ridley, of Alzheimer’s Research UK,
said: ‘Research has repeatedly linked smoking
and high blood pressure to a greater risk of
cognitive decline and dementia. This study
adds weight to that.
‘Cognitive decline as we age can develop into
dementia, and unravelling the factors linked to
this decline could be crucial for finding ways to
prevent the condition.’
Jessica Smith, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said:
‘We all know smoking, a high blood pressure,
high cholesterol and a high Body Mass Index is
bad for our heart.
‘This adds to the huge amount of evidence
that also suggests they can be bad for our
head too.’
One in three of the over-65s will develop
dementia, she added.


Source- UK Daily Mail