September 23, 2008 • 19 mins
Everyone knows it's tough to quit smoking -- but did you know quitting can be contagious? Check out this HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about smoking.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. Chuck Bryant's here. I'm here Josh as always,
(00:20):
and I'm Josh Clark, So thank you for joining us. Um,
how are you doing, Chuck? I'm doing good man. I'm
kind of crawling out of my skin a little bit,
I can tell. And I know why. Yeah, I could.
I could really go for a smoke. Actually yeah, I
hate to admit it, but yeah, I'm I'm a smoker.
I'm I'm a big time, heavy, heavy smoker. Have been
doing it for many, many years. That's what gives me
(00:40):
this thick, lustrous voice. Um made for radio. Yeah yeah,
And and as Chuck and most of the other people
in the office, no, uh, if I could smoke in
my cubicle, I would do so constantly, right, Like, It's
exactly how I wish it was the fifties. So yeah,
because not only could I smoke, I could also drink
at work as well, which you know, yeah, yeah, it'd
(01:01):
be like a madman. As you've mentioned, you like, right,
great show. So since I can't smoke in my cubicle.
I have to pop downstairs, you know, seven eight times
an hour, UM, which I understand. People in the airline
industry you have to do as well. Now, UM, the
the f A A band, the use of UM. This
(01:22):
this smoking cessation drug called the verenda cline better known
as shantics shantics, Yes, yes, UM, I always call it
shaviks for some reason. I don't know if you knew that. UM.
And And basically, if you're an air traffic controller or
a pilot, UM, you are doomed to a life as
a smoker because at the very least you can't use verendacline.
(01:42):
Reports started trickling in that some people were suffering psychotic
breaks UM epilepsy seizures. I've heard it could make you suicidal,
suicidal thoughts, and I gotta tell you that and and
this this is linked hasn't been proven obviously, UM. Disclaimer disclaimer, UM.
But the uh that the the last thing you want
(02:04):
in an airline pilot is suicidal tendencies. You know, because
if you're gonna go down, you might as well take
the whole plane with you. As you know, that's my
my worst way to die. Plane crash, so um, everybody
in the airline industry that's either controlling planes or driving
them is not allowed to take very client anymore. And UM,
(02:25):
so they're they're investigating it because it's a brand new
uh class of drugs. It's not like any other drug
on the market, and it targets UM these nicotinic receptors
which are like really sensitive on the brain, UM, and
they basically amplify other neurotransmitters. So if you are drinking um,
(02:49):
you know, an alcoholic beverage, uh, the you want to smoke? Right.
The reason why it's there's a Kansas State study that
just came out that's just that's because nicotine. You're not
so much addicted to the direct effects that nicotine has
on you, you're addicted to the accompanying effects that has.
It turns up the pleasure that you get and right, right,
(03:13):
which actually provides a a lot of UM foundation for
Newport's Alive with Pleasure ad campaign. I wonder if they
knew that back then or else if they were just
shooting in the dark and just happened to hit the target.
Will smoking definitely makes you feel better to a certain degree, right,
it does? We should probably tell everybody how smoking works. Right. Uh, yeah,
(03:34):
I've been right, I've been writing. I've been writing a
lot about smoking lately, so I've I've got smoking on
the brain for sure. Okay, Well that's funny because that's
where smoking has its effect, right, the nicotine receptors. Yeah, well,
the nicotinic receptors, but also um uh in a very
standard way. What we know about smoking is is that, um,
it activates what the colinergic Yeah, pathways. That's the best
(03:58):
way I can say it. You know, colinergic, We're gonna
go with colinergic. Um. If you know, the correct pronunciation
is world, keep it to yourself. Um. So, So nicotine
activates this uh. And it's a pathway that transmits a
set of acetal colwine, right, which is responsible for the
parasympathetic nervous system, which does what chuck the opposite of
(04:21):
what you knew it was going to come to this
sooner or later. It always the key to the universe,
the theory of everything. So basically, um, this stuff makes
you sharper, It makes you feel focused, but also calm
as well. Right. So that's that's one effect. The problem
is is that um, when you when you have these
(04:42):
pathways damaged, it can lead to Alzheimer's because this stuff
is in charge of memory and other cognitive functions. Right,
so smoking by proxy could arguably lead to Alzheimer's since
it would overuse these pathways. The same thing goes with dopamine.
Openmine is in the reward pathways your brain, and uh,
(05:04):
they reinforce things that help you survive, like you want
to eat, you want to sleep. Yeah, that's that's how
we learn behavior, right right, And basically it just stimulates
pleasant feelings. I'm glad we don't have a punishment system
in our brain. I'll bet that would hurt punishment pathway.
Yeah exactly, Yeah, exactly, I've got that going on. Mine's
(05:24):
highly acute and well developed. Uh yeah. It also increases endorphins.
And now you know a little something about endorphins. I
I want to tell you about endorphins, chuck. Um. Basically,
they're the body's pain killer, natural painkiller, UM and and
it's triggered by stress or pain. Also, sex actually triggers
(05:45):
the release of endorphins and UM. When you have a
rush of them, uh, you you get kind of high,
you get euphoric. This is what's responsible for the runners high,
which I can tell you as a smoker, I've never achieved.
I have no clue with the runners high feels like right, um,
I start to wheeze very very quickly before I ever
even get close. You have runners low. Pretty much. It's
(06:08):
more of like a runners like dragged myself across the
floor kind of thing. Um. But so it's kind of like, um,
you get this from what I understand, the the endorphins
attached to the opiate receptors, So all of a sudden,
it's like taking a giant hit a smack it right
in the old right, in the old left arm, and
(06:30):
and there you go. The weird thing is is that
endorphin is released in different doses depending on the individual.
It's unique to each person. So you and I could
bang the same knee, each of our knees on on
the same coffee table with the same force, and you know,
we get different doses of endorphins released. So I didn't
(06:50):
realize that. Apparently that's it's endorphins are one of the
few neurotransmitters that happened like that. So basically, smoking get
you going in all these way, right, and you know,
nicotine we know is highly addictive substance, naturally occurring subsce.
Was that ever proven? Because I got to tell you,
the big tobacco guys are telling me that's not really true.
Man's true. Those guys are evil incarnate, buddy. Are you sure? Yeah,
(07:15):
I'm very sure. I've been doing a lot of smoking research,
and not only is nicotine really addictive, but cigarette companies
have gone out of the way to add all sorts
of stuff to make it even more addictive, to uh,
to increase that rush of endorphins. It's just it's unreal, man,
when you start reading about this thing. Look, I saw
the Insider too, but I mean, really, I've got some
facts for you. Let's hear them. Well, there's four thousand,
(07:36):
four thousand chemicals and a cigarette and five hundred and
ninety nine ingredients in each and every cigarette. So that's value.
I mean, how much is a cigarette? It's nothing. It's
it's one way to look at it. You're getting methane
and butane and rocket fuel and ammonia and cadmium. Where
else am I going to get this in my daily life? Yeah? Right, Okay,
(07:57):
you don't need that stuff, man, does your body doesn't?
Your cell phone battery does I should probably stop taking
my caminium supplements. You should. Uh, here's another smoking stat
you might like. Um, a packet day smoker in just
a full cup of tar one every year into their lungs.
What about a two packet day smoker would be two
(08:19):
cup cups of tar. It's it's a one to one
ratio there. So that's a full cup of tar in
your lungs. And one reason, you know, I used to
kind of scoff at people who when the cigarette company
started getting sued, like everyone knows they're bad for you.
How can you see the cigarette company? I don't feel
that way anymore. Why don't doing this research because I
don't know about you as a smoker, but a lot
(08:39):
of smokers when they wake up, they have a pretty
bad cough. Eight percent of smokers have that for a
cigarette in the first ten minutes of their day, and
it makes them stop coughing. So throw yourself back to
the nineteen fifties, before all these Surgeon General's warnings and things,
when the Surgeon General was actually smoking right exactly. Uh,
you would wake up and cough and feel really bad.
You have a cigarette and make you feel better, so
(09:01):
you keep smoking. What's going on there is uh inside
your body, inside your lungs and your bronchial tubes and everything.
A little silly little hairs that are like little street sweepers.
It just kind of swing back and forth and they
clean out, you know, the bad debris and the particles,
and they get to work. Smoking. Uh kills those guys,
numbs them or kills them so where they stop sweeping,
(09:23):
so you collect all the cook down in there, and
then when you don't smoke overnight, they wake back up
again and start sweeping again. So when you wake up
as a smoker, you have all this mucus and UH
and stuff built up, so you want to cough it out.
Take that first cigarette, and it kills acilia again. They
stop working. You stop coughing, You think you feel better.
(09:43):
That's nuts, Isn't that crazy? That's biology? Man, Here's something
else for you. Free you. You You know what free base
nicotine is. I know what free basing is. Well, it's
it's kind of the same same thing as crack cocaine. Honestly, Basically,
it's nicotine that's missing a hydrogen, the ion. It's molecular structure,
it's missing one hydrogen ion, and without it it makes
(10:06):
it turns into a gas easier. And if it's turned
into a gas easier, it goes to your brain quicker,
and things that go to your brain quicker, is quicker
to make you addictive. It hits your brain faster, quicker reaction,
same as crack cocaine. It's quicker reaction and get you
high quicker. So it's missing a hydrogenion and it's stilled
with cadmium. Oh yeah, there's still the cadmium. Uh So
(10:27):
what they found out is a lot of these major
brands of cigarettes um have like ten to twenty times
the amount of free based nicotine that they thought. So
they're doing this on purpose. Not only that they put
it in the first uh the end of the cigarette,
so your first few puffs get you off quicker and
get you you know that that nicotine hit quicker. So
it's all very deliberate. It's all it's all on purpose
(10:49):
because they like to sell smokes. They're making a lot
of money on so much so that there's another startling
stat fifty of people that have had surgery for lunk
answer start smoking again after the Yeah, I've known a
couple of people who are not lung cancer but like
heart attacks, Um, major coronary bypass surgery, right, Um, who
(11:12):
still smoke? And it's I, I guess that is kind
of that's either a testament to their their stupidity or
you know, the addictiveness of the power of smoking. So
this is kind of a downer for you probably and others. Well,
what am I supposed to do? Chuck, Well, you're supposed
to quit, so maybe we should talk about that, all right,
I guess we can. It's uh, this brings us to
(11:33):
the article I wrote, is quitting smoking contagious? And it
turns out it's sort of is by contagious, we mean
it's much much easier to stop if you do it
with a partner, Okay, alright, so let's talk about that,
all right, let's do Uh there's a few little stats
here we could talk about. Two. Men generally have a
generally have a seven percent higher likelihood of quitting smoking
(11:57):
than women. You've got that on your side. They don't
only know. They think one reason might be because a
lot of times there's a weight gain associated with quitting,
and that women might be a little more bashful about
putting on some pounds than men are um and it's
a lot of it has to do with genetics too.
That you're talking about the nicotine receptors in your brain. Uh,
(12:17):
there's a receptor gene called exciting. It's called c HR
in A five of course. And uh, if you have
this gene in your body, you're born with it. You're
more likely to enjoy that very first cigarette you ever have.
Oh really, so you than by by extension to be addicted, yeah,
and to be to continue smoking. Basically, so genetics are involved,
(12:41):
your sex is involved. Um, mental illness, This is kind
of interesting. Seventy of schizophrenics or smokers. Really, well, that's
funny because um they were hoping to use uh chavicks
to treat Yeah, that's okay, thanks, uh you all. That
(13:02):
is interesting because bipolar disorder six and alcoholics of alcoholic
smoke too. Again though, that falls in line with that
Kse State study that you know. It's it's smoking and
drinking alcohol, smoking and drinking coffee, smoking in food. We
derive pleasure from all these and it's like this, it's
like um, you know, putting the whipped cream on the
(13:24):
ice cream with when you have a cigarettes, just eating
vanilla ice cream but then hey, you've got the whipped
cream on topics, right, you know, it's kind of like that.
So what they've learned is that there was this big study.
I know that you love the study, the Farmington Heart Study.
I love the study. It's enormous, it's sweeping. This is
what a study should be like twenty one years. What
twelve thousand, twelve thousand residents of Farmington, Massachusetts were studied
(13:47):
over thirty two year period. I mean that is you're
talking about some really a really good data, significant data. Yeah. Yeah,
it's really cool. So they studied all these people and uh,
it's a heart study, so it wasn't just for smoking,
it's just about the in general. But um, about five
thousand out of these twelve thousand are smokers, which which
they defined by smoking more than one cigarette every day. Yeah,
(14:09):
which is a little high. Actually, only about of the
population in the United States smokes. Now really, yeah, that's
that's on the high side. I'm part of a dying
breed on a yeah you are, yeah, very very literally literally, So, uh,
they studied these folks and they found they what they
basically did was a researched friends and family members and
co workers to get a subset of of connection, basically
(14:32):
people who are connected to each other. But they found
were that people that quit smoking. Um, whose spouse quit smoking,
your sixty seven percent less likely to smoke if your
spouse quit. Now, I can understand that. You know, because
you're living with somebody, you you get able to see
you every day. Uh yeah, But but in quite the opposite,
You're you can intimidate your mate out of smoking if
(14:55):
they know they're going to get in trouble. There's there's
that kind of fear fear based exactly. Uh. And it
extended even further than that. Co workers were thirty four
percent less like it can can continue smoking because I
know a lot of times you have your smoke buddies.
If it don't have your smoke with sure, I'm not
naming names though, no names being named, but um, if
(15:16):
that person were to quit, then your thirty four percent
uh less likely to continue smoking. Did you think that's
a significant drop? I mean, uh, that's six. Well, hopefully
that's kind of a good ratio from your spouse to
a coworker. I guess yeah, close friends, you have a
thirty six percent chance of of continuing smoke. Siblings so
(15:42):
there's they definitely established a link that if you quit
smoking with somebody else, uh, big significant chance that you're
gonna quit smoking as well. Well. What I found super
interesting in in this article was that, um that you
said that the six degrees of separation rule actually apply.
So Kevin Bacon roll exactly. Yeah. Um. And if if
(16:06):
you put it, there's subject A B and C and
subject A no subject B and subject BE no subject C.
Is everyone following this so far? Yes? Okay, Um, if
subject A quit smoking, then subject C is more likely
to quit smoking as well, even though they don't know
each other. Yeah, I don't know, I don't I don't
understand that. Does does subject be you know, just by
(16:28):
knowing subject A carry the triumph of quitting with with
him or her to subject C or what? Maybe? So
I don't think that can be explained, but it's it's
in the data, I mean, less likely to continue smoking.
Subject C is if Subject A quits even if they
don't know each other, and subject D it extends even
further eleven chance. That's so that's four people, three people away.
(16:51):
So they they there's a statistical link. They're just not
entirely certain what that link is No, they're not sure
what that link is, but what they do know from
the study is it, uh, just as you enable each
other when you smoke, smokers form clusters usually, and when
that cluster starts to break up, you'll either be a
part of the non smoking cluster or you'll go off
and form a new cluster with new smoking friends. Right,
(17:12):
And I can totally understand that. Um. Just you know,
down in the courtyard, I know people who I don't
see at all anymore because they quit smoking one of
the one of the two. Yeah, I hadn't. I hadn't
considered that. But the good news is you need a
buddy up with somebody, not you. Of course i'd like
you to quit, but you out there who are smokers,
buddy up with someone, if it's your wife, try it together.
(17:35):
You might want to kill each other at first, but
it turns out it's much much easier when you have
some support around you. So, Chuck, thanks for all this. Um.
As a smoker, my my one real takeaway from this
is don't bother smoking anything but the first third of
the cigarette because that's where the pop is. So yeah, yeah,
I'm glad that was your takeaway. It was I'm gonna
actually go uh and puff over this whole thing, right,
(17:57):
chew over it. I mean, I'm gonna go for a jog. Well,
don't you go anywhere, don't smoke or anything like that.
Stick around for a second to find out which article
and practice Chuck thinks is ridiculous. I honestly don't know
what it is. Chuck, what what? What article do you
think is ridiculous? And what practice? I should say, what practice?
It's called noodling? And what is noodling? Noodling is uh
(18:19):
the best way to say this. Rural folks um will
go out into a lake. They will get into the water.
They will reach down underwater with their hands into mud
holes and let a catfish bite onto their arm and
pull this thing out onto their attached to their limb. Okay,
I actually have heard of that, but that is called stumping,
(18:42):
I think, or something like that. Well, by any other name,
is also a rose. I have no idea, but it's
called noodling in this article, and it's, uh, it's ridiculous
to me. So why why why? I mean, if you
can catch a fish without having to spend the money
on hook or bait or anything, why not I know
we're going to get complaints from noodlers all over the country.
I agree. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and say that
(19:03):
catfish is d lish. No matter how you get. It's frightening.
Maybe more than anything. It reminds me of the scene
in Flash Gordon where Timothy Dalton is reaching into that hole.
I have no idea what you're talking. That's a good movie.
You should see it, all right? Well, uh go see
Flash Gordon apparently, and be sure to read how noodling
works on how stuff works dot Com. Chuck command you
for more on this and thousands of other topics. Does
(19:25):
it how stuff works dot com? Let us know what
you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff
works dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two
thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. Chuck Bryant's here. I'm here Josh as always,
(00:20):
and I'm Josh Clark, So thank you for joining us. Um,
how are you doing, Chuck? I'm doing good man. I'm
kind of crawling out of my skin a little bit,
I can tell. And I know why. Yeah, I could.
I could really go for a smoke. Actually yeah, I
hate to admit it, but yeah, I'm I'm a smoker.
I'm I'm a big time, heavy, heavy smoker. Have been
doing it for many, many years. That's what gives me
(00:40):
this thick, lustrous voice. Um made for radio. Yeah yeah,
And and as Chuck and most of the other people
in the office, no, uh, if I could smoke in
my cubicle, I would do so constantly, right, Like, It's
exactly how I wish it was the fifties. So yeah,
because not only could I smoke, I could also drink
at work as well, which you know, yeah, yeah, it'd
(01:01):
be like a madman. As you've mentioned, you like, right,
great show. So since I can't smoke in my cubicle.
I have to pop downstairs, you know, seven eight times
an hour, UM, which I understand. People in the airline
industry you have to do as well. Now, UM, the
the f A A band, the use of UM. This
(01:22):
this smoking cessation drug called the verenda cline better known
as shantics shantics, Yes, yes, UM, I always call it
shaviks for some reason. I don't know if you knew that. UM.
And And basically, if you're an air traffic controller or
a pilot, UM, you are doomed to a life as
a smoker because at the very least you can't use verendacline.
(01:42):
Reports started trickling in that some people were suffering psychotic
breaks UM epilepsy seizures. I've heard it could make you suicidal,
suicidal thoughts, and I gotta tell you that and and
this this is linked hasn't been proven obviously, UM. Disclaimer disclaimer, UM.
But the uh that the the last thing you want
(02:04):
in an airline pilot is suicidal tendencies. You know, because
if you're gonna go down, you might as well take
the whole plane with you. As you know, that's my
my worst way to die. Plane crash, so um, everybody
in the airline industry that's either controlling planes or driving
them is not allowed to take very client anymore. And UM,
(02:25):
so they're they're investigating it because it's a brand new
uh class of drugs. It's not like any other drug
on the market, and it targets UM these nicotinic receptors
which are like really sensitive on the brain, UM, and
they basically amplify other neurotransmitters. So if you are drinking um,
(02:49):
you know, an alcoholic beverage, uh, the you want to smoke? Right.
The reason why it's there's a Kansas State study that
just came out that's just that's because nicotine. You're not
so much addicted to the direct effects that nicotine has
on you, you're addicted to the accompanying effects that has.
It turns up the pleasure that you get and right, right,
(03:13):
which actually provides a a lot of UM foundation for
Newport's Alive with Pleasure ad campaign. I wonder if they
knew that back then or else if they were just
shooting in the dark and just happened to hit the target.
Will smoking definitely makes you feel better to a certain degree, right,
it does? We should probably tell everybody how smoking works. Right. Uh, yeah,
(03:34):
I've been right, I've been writing. I've been writing a
lot about smoking lately, so I've I've got smoking on
the brain for sure. Okay, Well that's funny because that's
where smoking has its effect, right, the nicotine receptors. Yeah, well,
the nicotinic receptors, but also um uh in a very
standard way. What we know about smoking is is that, um,
it activates what the colinergic Yeah, pathways. That's the best
(03:58):
way I can say it. You know, colinergic, We're gonna
go with colinergic. Um. If you know, the correct pronunciation
is world, keep it to yourself. Um. So, So nicotine
activates this uh. And it's a pathway that transmits a
set of acetal colwine, right, which is responsible for the
parasympathetic nervous system, which does what chuck the opposite of
(04:21):
what you knew it was going to come to this
sooner or later. It always the key to the universe,
the theory of everything. So basically, um, this stuff makes
you sharper, It makes you feel focused, but also calm
as well. Right. So that's that's one effect. The problem
is is that um, when you when you have these
(04:42):
pathways damaged, it can lead to Alzheimer's because this stuff
is in charge of memory and other cognitive functions. Right,
so smoking by proxy could arguably lead to Alzheimer's since
it would overuse these pathways. The same thing goes with dopamine.
Openmine is in the reward pathways your brain, and uh,
(05:04):
they reinforce things that help you survive, like you want
to eat, you want to sleep. Yeah, that's that's how
we learn behavior, right right, And basically it just stimulates
pleasant feelings. I'm glad we don't have a punishment system
in our brain. I'll bet that would hurt punishment pathway.
Yeah exactly, Yeah, exactly, I've got that going on. Mine's
(05:24):
highly acute and well developed. Uh yeah. It also increases endorphins.
And now you know a little something about endorphins. I
I want to tell you about endorphins, chuck. Um. Basically,
they're the body's pain killer, natural painkiller, UM and and
it's triggered by stress or pain. Also, sex actually triggers
(05:45):
the release of endorphins and UM. When you have a
rush of them, uh, you you get kind of high,
you get euphoric. This is what's responsible for the runners high,
which I can tell you as a smoker, I've never achieved.
I have no clue with the runners high feels like right, um,
I start to wheeze very very quickly before I ever
even get close. You have runners low. Pretty much. It's
(06:08):
more of like a runners like dragged myself across the
floor kind of thing. Um. But so it's kind of like, um,
you get this from what I understand, the the endorphins
attached to the opiate receptors, So all of a sudden,
it's like taking a giant hit a smack it right
in the old right, in the old left arm, and
(06:30):
and there you go. The weird thing is is that
endorphin is released in different doses depending on the individual.
It's unique to each person. So you and I could
bang the same knee, each of our knees on on
the same coffee table with the same force, and you know,
we get different doses of endorphins released. So I didn't
(06:50):
realize that. Apparently that's it's endorphins are one of the
few neurotransmitters that happened like that. So basically, smoking get
you going in all these way, right, and you know,
nicotine we know is highly addictive substance, naturally occurring subsce.
Was that ever proven? Because I got to tell you,
the big tobacco guys are telling me that's not really true.
Man's true. Those guys are evil incarnate, buddy. Are you sure? Yeah,
(07:15):
I'm very sure. I've been doing a lot of smoking research,
and not only is nicotine really addictive, but cigarette companies
have gone out of the way to add all sorts
of stuff to make it even more addictive, to uh,
to increase that rush of endorphins. It's just it's unreal, man,
when you start reading about this thing. Look, I saw
the Insider too, but I mean, really, I've got some
facts for you. Let's hear them. Well, there's four thousand,
(07:36):
four thousand chemicals and a cigarette and five hundred and
ninety nine ingredients in each and every cigarette. So that's value.
I mean, how much is a cigarette? It's nothing. It's
it's one way to look at it. You're getting methane
and butane and rocket fuel and ammonia and cadmium. Where
else am I going to get this in my daily life? Yeah? Right, Okay,
(07:57):
you don't need that stuff, man, does your body doesn't?
Your cell phone battery does I should probably stop taking
my caminium supplements. You should. Uh, here's another smoking stat
you might like. Um, a packet day smoker in just
a full cup of tar one every year into their lungs.
What about a two packet day smoker would be two
(08:19):
cup cups of tar. It's it's a one to one
ratio there. So that's a full cup of tar in
your lungs. And one reason, you know, I used to
kind of scoff at people who when the cigarette company
started getting sued, like everyone knows they're bad for you.
How can you see the cigarette company? I don't feel
that way anymore. Why don't doing this research because I
don't know about you as a smoker, but a lot
(08:39):
of smokers when they wake up, they have a pretty
bad cough. Eight percent of smokers have that for a
cigarette in the first ten minutes of their day, and
it makes them stop coughing. So throw yourself back to
the nineteen fifties, before all these Surgeon General's warnings and things,
when the Surgeon General was actually smoking right exactly. Uh,
you would wake up and cough and feel really bad.
You have a cigarette and make you feel better, so
(09:01):
you keep smoking. What's going on there is uh inside
your body, inside your lungs and your bronchial tubes and everything.
A little silly little hairs that are like little street sweepers.
It just kind of swing back and forth and they
clean out, you know, the bad debris and the particles,
and they get to work. Smoking. Uh kills those guys,
numbs them or kills them so where they stop sweeping,
(09:23):
so you collect all the cook down in there, and
then when you don't smoke overnight, they wake back up
again and start sweeping again. So when you wake up
as a smoker, you have all this mucus and UH
and stuff built up, so you want to cough it out.
Take that first cigarette, and it kills acilia again. They
stop working. You stop coughing, You think you feel better.
(09:43):
That's nuts, Isn't that crazy? That's biology? Man, Here's something
else for you. Free you. You You know what free base
nicotine is. I know what free basing is. Well, it's
it's kind of the same same thing as crack cocaine. Honestly, Basically,
it's nicotine that's missing a hydrogen, the ion. It's molecular structure,
it's missing one hydrogen ion, and without it it makes
(10:06):
it turns into a gas easier. And if it's turned
into a gas easier, it goes to your brain quicker,
and things that go to your brain quicker, is quicker
to make you addictive. It hits your brain faster, quicker reaction,
same as crack cocaine. It's quicker reaction and get you
high quicker. So it's missing a hydrogenion and it's stilled
with cadmium. Oh yeah, there's still the cadmium. Uh So
(10:27):
what they found out is a lot of these major
brands of cigarettes um have like ten to twenty times
the amount of free based nicotine that they thought. So
they're doing this on purpose. Not only that they put
it in the first uh the end of the cigarette,
so your first few puffs get you off quicker and
get you you know that that nicotine hit quicker. So
it's all very deliberate. It's all it's all on purpose
(10:49):
because they like to sell smokes. They're making a lot
of money on so much so that there's another startling
stat fifty of people that have had surgery for lunk
answer start smoking again after the Yeah, I've known a
couple of people who are not lung cancer but like
heart attacks, Um, major coronary bypass surgery, right, Um, who
(11:12):
still smoke? And it's I, I guess that is kind
of that's either a testament to their their stupidity or
you know, the addictiveness of the power of smoking. So
this is kind of a downer for you probably and others. Well,
what am I supposed to do? Chuck, Well, you're supposed
to quit, so maybe we should talk about that, all right,
I guess we can. It's uh, this brings us to
(11:33):
the article I wrote, is quitting smoking contagious? And it
turns out it's sort of is by contagious, we mean
it's much much easier to stop if you do it
with a partner, Okay, alright, so let's talk about that,
all right, let's do Uh there's a few little stats
here we could talk about. Two. Men generally have a
generally have a seven percent higher likelihood of quitting smoking
(11:57):
than women. You've got that on your side. They don't
only know. They think one reason might be because a
lot of times there's a weight gain associated with quitting,
and that women might be a little more bashful about
putting on some pounds than men are um and it's
a lot of it has to do with genetics too.
That you're talking about the nicotine receptors in your brain. Uh,
(12:17):
there's a receptor gene called exciting. It's called c HR
in A five of course. And uh, if you have
this gene in your body, you're born with it. You're
more likely to enjoy that very first cigarette you ever have.
Oh really, so you than by by extension to be addicted, yeah,
and to be to continue smoking. Basically, so genetics are involved,
(12:41):
your sex is involved. Um, mental illness, This is kind
of interesting. Seventy of schizophrenics or smokers. Really, well, that's
funny because um they were hoping to use uh chavicks
to treat Yeah, that's okay, thanks, uh you all. That
(13:02):
is interesting because bipolar disorder six and alcoholics of alcoholic
smoke too. Again though, that falls in line with that
Kse State study that you know. It's it's smoking and
drinking alcohol, smoking and drinking coffee, smoking in food. We
derive pleasure from all these and it's like this, it's
like um, you know, putting the whipped cream on the
(13:24):
ice cream with when you have a cigarettes, just eating
vanilla ice cream but then hey, you've got the whipped
cream on topics, right, you know, it's kind of like that.
So what they've learned is that there was this big study.
I know that you love the study, the Farmington Heart Study.
I love the study. It's enormous, it's sweeping. This is
what a study should be like twenty one years. What
twelve thousand, twelve thousand residents of Farmington, Massachusetts were studied
(13:47):
over thirty two year period. I mean that is you're
talking about some really a really good data, significant data. Yeah. Yeah,
it's really cool. So they studied all these people and uh,
it's a heart study, so it wasn't just for smoking,
it's just about the in general. But um, about five
thousand out of these twelve thousand are smokers, which which
they defined by smoking more than one cigarette every day. Yeah,
(14:09):
which is a little high. Actually, only about of the
population in the United States smokes. Now really, yeah, that's
that's on the high side. I'm part of a dying
breed on a yeah you are, yeah, very very literally literally, So, uh,
they studied these folks and they found they what they
basically did was a researched friends and family members and
co workers to get a subset of of connection, basically
(14:32):
people who are connected to each other. But they found
were that people that quit smoking. Um, whose spouse quit smoking,
your sixty seven percent less likely to smoke if your
spouse quit. Now, I can understand that. You know, because
you're living with somebody, you you get able to see
you every day. Uh yeah, But but in quite the opposite,
You're you can intimidate your mate out of smoking if
(14:55):
they know they're going to get in trouble. There's there's
that kind of fear fear based exactly. Uh. And it
extended even further than that. Co workers were thirty four
percent less like it can can continue smoking because I
know a lot of times you have your smoke buddies.
If it don't have your smoke with sure, I'm not
naming names though, no names being named, but um, if
(15:16):
that person were to quit, then your thirty four percent
uh less likely to continue smoking. Did you think that's
a significant drop? I mean, uh, that's six. Well, hopefully
that's kind of a good ratio from your spouse to
a coworker. I guess yeah, close friends, you have a
thirty six percent chance of of continuing smoke. Siblings so
(15:42):
there's they definitely established a link that if you quit
smoking with somebody else, uh, big significant chance that you're
gonna quit smoking as well. Well. What I found super
interesting in in this article was that, um that you
said that the six degrees of separation rule actually apply.
So Kevin Bacon roll exactly. Yeah. Um. And if if
(16:06):
you put it, there's subject A B and C and
subject A no subject B and subject BE no subject C.
Is everyone following this so far? Yes? Okay, Um, if
subject A quit smoking, then subject C is more likely
to quit smoking as well, even though they don't know
each other. Yeah, I don't know, I don't I don't
understand that. Does does subject be you know, just by
(16:28):
knowing subject A carry the triumph of quitting with with
him or her to subject C or what? Maybe? So
I don't think that can be explained, but it's it's
in the data, I mean, less likely to continue smoking.
Subject C is if Subject A quits even if they
don't know each other, and subject D it extends even
further eleven chance. That's so that's four people, three people away.
(16:51):
So they they there's a statistical link. They're just not
entirely certain what that link is No, they're not sure
what that link is, but what they do know from
the study is it, uh, just as you enable each
other when you smoke, smokers form clusters usually, and when
that cluster starts to break up, you'll either be a
part of the non smoking cluster or you'll go off
and form a new cluster with new smoking friends. Right,
(17:12):
And I can totally understand that. Um. Just you know,
down in the courtyard, I know people who I don't
see at all anymore because they quit smoking one of
the one of the two. Yeah, I hadn't. I hadn't
considered that. But the good news is you need a
buddy up with somebody, not you. Of course i'd like
you to quit, but you out there who are smokers,
buddy up with someone, if it's your wife, try it together.
(17:35):
You might want to kill each other at first, but
it turns out it's much much easier when you have
some support around you. So, Chuck, thanks for all this. Um.
As a smoker, my my one real takeaway from this
is don't bother smoking anything but the first third of
the cigarette because that's where the pop is. So yeah, yeah,
I'm glad that was your takeaway. It was I'm gonna
actually go uh and puff over this whole thing, right,
(17:57):
chew over it. I mean, I'm gonna go for a jog. Well,
don't you go anywhere, don't smoke or anything like that.
Stick around for a second to find out which article
and practice Chuck thinks is ridiculous. I honestly don't know
what it is. Chuck, what what? What article do you
think is ridiculous? And what practice? I should say, what practice?
It's called noodling? And what is noodling? Noodling is uh
(18:19):
the best way to say this. Rural folks um will
go out into a lake. They will get into the water.
They will reach down underwater with their hands into mud
holes and let a catfish bite onto their arm and
pull this thing out onto their attached to their limb. Okay,
I actually have heard of that, but that is called stumping,
(18:42):
I think, or something like that. Well, by any other name,
is also a rose. I have no idea, but it's
called noodling in this article, and it's, uh, it's ridiculous
to me. So why why why? I mean, if you
can catch a fish without having to spend the money
on hook or bait or anything, why not I know
we're going to get complaints from noodlers all over the country.
I agree. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and say that
(19:03):
catfish is d lish. No matter how you get. It's frightening.
Maybe more than anything. It reminds me of the scene
in Flash Gordon where Timothy Dalton is reaching into that hole.
I have no idea what you're talking. That's a good movie.
You should see it, all right? Well, uh go see
Flash Gordon apparently, and be sure to read how noodling
works on how stuff works dot Com. Chuck command you
for more on this and thousands of other topics. Does
(19:25):
it how stuff works dot com? Let us know what
you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff
works dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two
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