# What are the benefits (mainly health benefits) of smoking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160 "2018-05-30T23:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/21 "2018-05-31T12:43:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > That used to be true, when most people smoked, but now it’s just the opposite. Well you say that… I would postulate that as smoking becomes more taboo, smokers will bond even tighter over their persecuted status. It matters who at the office, for instance, smokes. Where I work, about half of the managers and both of their bosses are smokers. The smokers hang out in the same area and when the butts are afire, **the work hierarchy disappears**. **Meaningful socialization happens**. When it’s time for promotions or pay raises, it’s only natural for those doling them out to prefer people they know well _personally_. Merit matters, but familiarity is frequently the tiebreaker. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/22 "2018-05-31T15:30:56Z")
It is not well understood but there are theories that smoking can help alleviate the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and that is why 80% of schizophrenics smoke. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/23 "2018-05-31T15:59:48Z")
I vaguely recall smoking being prescribed for stomach and intestinal trouble. It can help with constipation but I think I remember some other illnesses like ulcerative colitis. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/24 "2018-05-31T17:13:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > when 10% of the populace smokes? Doubtful. That’s the whole point though. When I’m in a dorm with 400 people, I’m too shy/introverted to start up a conversation or randomly introduce myself to people. But when I walk outside and there’s 5 people smoking, it’s much easier. Also, as I stated earlier ‘Can I borrow your lighter?’ is a good conversation starter. You may not see any (positive) social ramifications, but I do (and did). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/25 "2018-05-31T17:14:01Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I vaguely recall smoking being prescribed for stomach and intestinal trouble. It can help with constipation but I think I remember some other illnesses like ulcerative colitis. Not really. What happens is that if you are addicted to nicotine, and you stop suddenly, you can get constipated for a day or so. It has no gut health benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/26 "2018-05-31T17:15:17Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I vaguely recall smoking being prescribed for stomach and intestinal trouble. It can help with constipation but I think I remember some other illnesses like ulcerative colitis. Yes, it will definitely make you need to go to the bathroom. Like, if you really need to go, you’re not even going to finish the cigarette. A few puffs and it’s on it’s way out. I know that’s not the case for everyone, but it is for many. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/27 "2018-05-31T18:07:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not really. What happens is that if you are addicted to nicotine, and you stop suddenly, you can get constipated for a day or so. > > It has no gut health benefits. “Meta-analysis has confirmed that current smoking has a [protective](https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/8/8/717/530121) effect in UC \*(ulcerative colitis), \*the most recent of which has demonstrated that smokers have an odds ratio (OR) of developing UC of 0.58; (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45–0.75) compared to non-smokers.14,15” ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/28 "2018-05-31T18:34:50Z")
[https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(00)01094-5/abstract?cc=y=](https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(00)01094-5/abstract?cc=y=) > [@](#): > > Abstract > > **Nicotine and other nicotinic agonists have been found to improve performance on attention and memory tasks**. Clinical studies using nicotine skin patches have demonstrated the **efficacy of nicotine in treating cognitive impairments associated with Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder**. Experimental animal studies have demonstrated the persistence of nicotine-induced working memory improvement with chronic exposure, in addition to the efficacy of a variety of nicotinic agonists. Mechanistic studies have found that α7 and α4β2 nicotinic receptors in the hippocampus are critical for nicotinic involvement in cognitive function. Clinical and experimental animal studies provide mutually supporting information for the development of novel nicotinic therapies for cognitive dysfunction. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/29 "2018-05-31T18:57:23Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I recall reading that the study was commissioned by the tobacco companies to counter the claim that smoking caused extra costs to the health care system. Not exactly the result they were looking for, finding that smokers died younger before they could add all sorts of esoteric geriatric costs to the system. > > 70 is young, when you consider that a lot of people are living into their 80’s and 90’s routinely now. If you don’t want to live an extra decade in a hospital bed or as a drooling vegetable in a wheelchair, I guess smoking is the way to go. > > (Another study suggested most people cost the system the most in the first and last 6 months of their lives). I don’t think that other study contradicts the basic premise (which is pretty well accepted, if not much publicized). It’s true that the cost of dying is the most significant health care cost that the average person has, and each person only dies once. So smoking doesn’t make a difference there. But if a person dies at 70 versus 80, then that’s 10 years of health care costs saved. Relatively minor costs of health care, but health care nonetheless, and more than the average middle-aged person, let alone younger person. But the thing is that health care costs are only a subset of the larger picture, and it’s a mistake to focus on healthcare specifically. The bigger picture has to do with the working lifetime to total lifetime ratio. If you look at society as a whole, the working lifetime (of the entire population, or each person on average) has to support the entire lifetime (of the entire population, or of each person on average). One of the problems modern society has is that as lifetimes have grown longer and working lifetimes have remained constant (or even decreased, possibly) the burden of supporting that non-productive portion has grown greater. This is most directly manifested in looming funding problems for SS and Medicare, where current funding levels grow continually inadequate, but it will also emerge as a problem in pension funding crises for many other government entities, and in other areas. The upshot of the above is that anything which reduces the non-working lifetime but does not much impact the working lifetime has a financial benefit to society, in that it makes it easier to support the remaining non-productive members. Healthcare costs are only one example of this, but really it’s the entire cost of living, and nothing special about healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160/30 "2018-05-31T19:02:29Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It has no gut health benefits. Don’t particularly want to get into an argument with a doctor, but: > **[Ulcerative colitis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulcerative_colitis)** > > Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the other type being Crohn's disease. It is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and anemia may also occur. Often, symptoms come on slowly and can range from mild to severe. Symptoms typically occur intermittently with The cause of UC... Quote: _ **Furthermore, it has been suggested that the protective benefit of smoking in ulcerative colitis…** _ I’m not a doctor, but I do have ulcerative colitis, and I discussed this with the treating doc (in a jokey kind of way - he wasn’t recommending it). He was quite clear that this was not to do with nicotine, but with the other gunk in smoke, which would make it a health benefit of smoking. Am I wrong in thinking that this also crops up in one of Cecil’s columns? j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-mainly-health-benefits-of-smoking/815160.md?page=1)