Ciggies

We all know smoking cigarettes leads to cancers and heart disease. But new research coming out of Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA shows smoking in your middle ages leads to:

• 114% increased risk of developing dementia
• 157% increased risk of developing alzheimer's disease
• 172% increased risk of developing vascular dementia

These conditions don't start until later in the smoker's life. In the past, smokers often passed away from other conditions before their brain health could be assessed. Kudos to the researchers for being able to obtain this data!

A quick side note, nicotine from smoking is actually beneficial to individuals with schizophrenia. In 2004 numerous research institutions concluded that nicotine receptors in the brain were stimulated when smoking, and improved the attention and short-term memory of schizophrenics. Upon quitting smoking their cognitive function declined again. Individuals without schizophrenia do not experience these effects.