smoking and diving
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miketsp
Contributor
There is an active thread running on this subject at the moment - jump in.durian:
http://www.scubaboard.com/t62749.html
many, but not so many that it prevents smokers from diving.
We all know its bad, we know we shouldnt, we all wish we didnt, it is a sign of weakness but telling us will just piss us off and put us further into denial.
We all know its bad, we know we shouldnt, we all wish we didnt, it is a sign of weakness but telling us will just piss us off and put us further into denial.
Smoking causes all sorts of problems, though divers are not always aware of them.
Gas exchange from Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide is altered by smoking and will not return to normal until 12 hours after smoking.
Encyclopedia of Diving
I'll look it up to give you more refs. from the Encyclopedia, but yes, there were more that I was reading in the Physiology chapter.
Gas exchange from Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide is altered by smoking and will not return to normal until 12 hours after smoking.
Encyclopedia of Diving
I'll look it up to give you more refs. from the Encyclopedia, but yes, there were more that I was reading in the Physiology chapter.
Simple answer to a simple question. I'm a smoker and yes, my smoking has a significant impact on my diving. It limits my endurance underwater before I start breathing hard and burning up my gas. It limits my ability to carry my gear from my truck to the dive site. It limits my ability to surface swim.durian:
Currently I'm in day 5 of not smoking. I haven't killed anyone yet. lol
Basically, yes you can smoke and scuba. Does smoking take away from your scuba? Depends on what you want out of scuba. Myself, I want everything I can get, which includes deep, wreck, cave, and the occasional warm water reef swim.
Brian
Hey Brian - good luck mate! I'm thinking of trying to stop again too - (didn't make it past 'thinking about' yet!!
)
)
The Kraken
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Kim,
I hope you make it, my friend, I watched both my mother and my mother-in-law die from diseases related to smoking.
I used to drink, heavily. I stopped. Cold turkey. No AAA, no intervention group, no preacher . . . my 14 year-old daughter said, "Daddy, you drink too much. I love you and I don't want you to die."
What are your priorities . . .
You know, of course, that an answer to that last question is really not wanted.
I hope you make it, my friend, I watched both my mother and my mother-in-law die from diseases related to smoking.
I used to drink, heavily. I stopped. Cold turkey. No AAA, no intervention group, no preacher . . . my 14 year-old daughter said, "Daddy, you drink too much. I love you and I don't want you to die."
What are your priorities . . .
You know, of course, that an answer to that last question is really not wanted.
RichLockyer
Guest
As a famous man (Frank Oz) once said:KimLeece:Hey Brian - good luck mate! I'm thinking of trying to stop again too - (didn't make it past 'thinking about' yet!!
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
Best of luck Kim. I did it cold turkey after 20 years of 2 packs a day (4 packs when I worked retail). It took a solid 6 months before I quit reaching for my pocket while driving. I haven't smoked since January 2000 and I don't miss it. At the same time, I'm not a PITA to those around me who choose to smoke, other than I won't let them smoke in my home or my truck.
If you need assistance from the patch or gum, do it. The nicotine is not good for you, but it's better than what it's replacing, and it will help you. The cost is about the same as smoking.
When I was a kid I'd smoke just about anything that'd burn. "Rabbit" tobacco & a corn cob pipe was the norm for any boy in our part of the country. Most of us graduated to tobacco... some have quit, some have died, some still smoke. Of those who still smoke a few claim to still enjoy it, but the vast majority are "going to quit." I became a regular smoker by age 10 and continued for 30 years.
I quit on 1 November, 1987.
My brain, knowing that I am a stubborn man and not likely to succomb to the normal temptations of nic-fits and burning desires for a cigarette etc., soon turned to subterfuge... I would have thoughts like "You ought to have a cigarette. It's the right thing to do... if you don't, you're BAD! You're EVIL!" - or "In this situation you will insult your host if you fail to accept his kind offer of that most excellent cigar, you bum you."
My little pea brain played these games with me for about a year, and finally gave up. The nic-fits, however, continued, but became less and less frequent. The last one was several months ago. I expect it wasn't my last.
My experience has convinced me that quitting is not to be taken lightly, is rarely successful without someone else to "keep you honest" (in my case, my wife & I quit together, and I was not going to fail her - so even when she started again I wouldn't let that derail me, and after two or three "falls," she finally quit for the last time in '93) and is rarely successful if you don't understand that an addicted brain has more good - no, great - reasons to smoke than Carter has Little Liver Pills. But those reasons are lies, every one. Every single one.
Trust me on this.
Rick
I quit on 1 November, 1987.
My brain, knowing that I am a stubborn man and not likely to succomb to the normal temptations of nic-fits and burning desires for a cigarette etc., soon turned to subterfuge... I would have thoughts like "You ought to have a cigarette. It's the right thing to do... if you don't, you're BAD! You're EVIL!" - or "In this situation you will insult your host if you fail to accept his kind offer of that most excellent cigar, you bum you."
My little pea brain played these games with me for about a year, and finally gave up. The nic-fits, however, continued, but became less and less frequent. The last one was several months ago. I expect it wasn't my last.
My experience has convinced me that quitting is not to be taken lightly, is rarely successful without someone else to "keep you honest" (in my case, my wife & I quit together, and I was not going to fail her - so even when she started again I wouldn't let that derail me, and after two or three "falls," she finally quit for the last time in '93) and is rarely successful if you don't understand that an addicted brain has more good - no, great - reasons to smoke than Carter has Little Liver Pills. But those reasons are lies, every one. Every single one.
Trust me on this.
Rick
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