Table of contents:
- Some of the effects of smoking on muscle work
- 1. Increase the risk of muscle injury during sports
- 2. Reducing the ability to move
- 3. Inhibits the growth of muscle cells
As a risky behavior, smoking is the number one cause of various chronic diseases. The decline in health quality due to smoking is due to exposure to toxins that enter the respiratory system and bloodstream, which generally interfere with the work of the heart and blood vessels. Not only that, the effects of smoking are also experienced by most of the body's cells, including muscle cells. Muscle damage from smoking may not cause serious health problems, but it can reduce the quality of a person's overall physical activity.
Some of the effects of smoking on muscle work
1. Increase the risk of muscle injury during sports
Smokers are more likely to have sprains or muscle injuries. Muscles in a smoker also tire more easily, which increases the chance of being injured by repetitive movements (overuse injury), falls, or loss of strength due to the supporting tissue of the muscles or tendons that are not too strong, back injuries and pain, shoulder injuries (bursitis) and injuries from sports accidents such as dislocations.
2. Reducing the ability to move
Blood vessel health is vital for individuals to be able to do their activities optimally. However, blood vessels tend to be damaged in smokers as a result of decreased physical activity.
Basically, muscles need sufficient oxygen intake to work optimally when exercising or physical activity. By smoking, the muscles will experience a lack of oxygen intake needed in several ways, including:
- Smokers experience a decrease in lung capacity at least 10% compared to normal conditions. As a result, less oxygen is inhaled and distributed into the bloodstream and muscles.
- Exposure to carbon monoxide causes less oxygen transport to muscle cells.
- The toxins from cigarettes also damage these oxygen carriers, namely red blood cells, so that the regeneration of damaged muscles during physical activity is hampered.
- The decrease in oxygen levels also has an impact on the process of providing energy so that smokers also tend to decrease their endurance capacity in physical activity.
3. Inhibits the growth of muscle cells
Smoking also has the opportunity to inhibit muscle growth that is formed from physical exercise, because basically increasing muscle mass requires optimal regeneration of new muscle cells. Many studies have shown that smoking-induced muscle damage results from disruption of muscle metabolism, increased inflammation and oxidative stress, and overactivation of genes that promote muscle atrophy (shrinkage).
