Scuba diving and smoking

[RonFrank]

Intersting, I think the majority responding never smoked. I did but quit. Not sure how this information matters to SB members?

There are a number of non smokers who feel smokers should not be allowed even outside, or in private establishments like bars. I find that rude but the US is changing. 15 years ago it was acceptable to smoke at you desk work. Now you can't even smoke inside most buildings.

 

[LowDrag]

Rollin,
I'm doing just fine with anxiety. You are missing my point which is they treat heroin addicts better than smokers. I'm not bitching about having to pay the full Monty, the point again is if I was a heroin addict I could get free needles and methadone. Try giving a freaking phamplet to a guy jonesing for his heroin. My doctor honked up my scrip so I had to wait two days for my refill. Do you think I could get one free pill? That would be no because it is breaking some obscure pharmacy law, now if I was heroin addict I just go to the Free clinic and get hooked up. I can afford my own meds and I didn't need a pill to tide me over but again not the point, smokers always get treated like second class citizens even when they are trying to quit. I would get better support from the state if I was quitting heroin.

Doubler, I was just trying to toss in a bit of humor. You sounded pretty stressed...sorry it didn't work. As for the other part, I agree 100%, smokers are treated like second hand citizens. Have a great day.

 

[Crowley]

As a smoker and full time dive professional:

Problems associated with smoking that *may* have some impact on diving
- increased CO (carbon monoxide) buildup: increased partial pressures at depth affects the way a gas behaves in our body. Unconsciousness leading to fatalities associated with CO poisoning on the surface requires a smaller percentage of inhaled gas to cause the same response at depth. This is why "bad air" in a tank is responsible for several deaths over the years.
- increased CO₂ (carbon dioxide) buildup: smoking produces other gases as a by-product (including Hydrogen Cyanide), so technically, CO₂ elimination is not as efficient due to extra being put in, and impaired lung function.
- mucus build up: Same as a chest cold, mucus in the lungs may cause a blockage that could lead to lung over-expansion injury
- surfactant removal: heavy smoking damages the surfactant that lines your lungs to prevent them sticking together during exhalation, and blockages due to stuck-together-lungs may lead to an overexpansion injury
- smoking raises your blood pressure, affects your heart rate, and alters the properties of your circulatory system. This is why smokers over 45 are required to get a dive medical prior to training.
- smoking impairs your overall fitness, so therefore diving in an environment in which you are required to work hard may mean you get more fatigued and breathless more easily. Hard work and heavy breathing lead to a CO₂ buildup which can cause panic or, eventually, blackout.
- probably some other things as well.

However - in my own personal experience, I know of no accidents or fatalities that have been directly attributable to smoking. All other factors being equal, smoking has very little impact on air consumption. This is down to technique, correct weighting and practice. Actually one of the worst air consumptions I ever experienced was from a non smoking tee total Olympic trained athlete...! As I have mentioned in previous threads, personal fitness and "fitness to dive" are not always the same thing. For example - a diver who dives on a regular basis but who smokes will probably have a better "fitness to dive" than a health-fanatic would if they dive only a few days in the year on holiday.

I'm not pro-or-con smoking, apart from the argument that governments use it to drag lots of money out of addicted people! I smoke, it doesn't really bother me that I do; I try to be respectful of non-smokers, but the reverse is rarely true. I've heard people on this forum say stuff that amounts to: "if your instructor smokes, look for another instructor". Well, I personally find it distasteful when people break wind in company, should I look for another instructor if I hear mine farting? Cos I DO NOT wish to inhale that, thank you very much!

Congratulations on giving up smoking. I know how hard it is, because I've done it, and I also know how easy it is to fall off the wagon. I do not dispute the significant health benefits of not smoking, but I also believe that for recreational diving, if you are in otherwise good general health, smoking or not has little overall impact on your ability to dive and certainly not your air consumption.

An odd thing - even for me - is the percentage of instructors/guides etc. who smoke. In the various centres for which I've worked, diving staff who smoke far outweigh those that don't. It crops up in conversation a lot, rather inevitably, and we've chalked it up to some sort of obsessive, compulsive, addictive, rebellious, underwater personality disorder, rather than anything else. :crazyeye:

Live and Let Dive,

C.

 

[boulderjohn]

As for smokers being treated a second class citizens....

They are. but why is this true? For an idea, let's look at other people who are treated as second class citizens under the law.

1. We have the freedom to move about as we wish, except that criminals are sentenced to prison terms to separate them from everyone else or in the hope of teaching them a lesson so that they will not continue to harm society. Society does this in order to protect itself from them.

2. We have freedom of speech except for those speakers who incite riots, shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater, etc. Society does this in order to protect itself from them.

3. We have the freedom to drive cars if we have a license, except that those who habitually drive at unsafe speeds or drive while under the influence of alcohol have that right removed. Society does this in order to protect itself from them.

4. We have the freedom to live where we please, except that people who have molested children are restricted from living in places where children are likely to congregate. Society does this in order to protect itself from them.

Now, smoking is in no way at the same degree as those examples, but the main idea is the same. People are fee to associate as they please, but smokers are not allowed to smoke in many places where non-smokers are trying to breathe uncontaminated air. Society does this in order to protect itself from them. The disease of childhood bronchitis occurs almost 100% in homes in which the parents are smokers. I suffered from childhood bronchitis for about a decade, from roughly age 8 to age 18. In elementary school for a time my classmates called me "coughdrop." When I went away to college and lived away from my smoking parents forever, it took several years for my lungs to heal, but once they did, I never had it again.

 

[daniel1948]

As boulderjohn points out, the issue with smokers' vs. non-smokers' rights lies in the conflict that if you and I are in the same room and you are smoking, you are effectively forcing me to consume a drug which is known to be harmful. For many years, including most of my life, non-smokers had no rights: smokers were allowed to smoke pretty much wherever they pleased. You could not enjoy a drink in a bar or a meal in a restaurant without being subjected to tobacco smoke. "Non-smoking" sections were typically right next to smoking sections in airplanes and restaurants that had separate sections. If your co-workers smoked, you were forced to breathe their smoke all day long and your only recourse was to quit your job!

Non-smokers were second-class citizens.

Then public attitudes began to change. People accepted the fact that smoking kills, and that before it kills it does severe damage to health, and more and more people quit smoking. Finally there were enough non-smokers that rules and laws began appearing that banned smoking in various public places, on the grounds that non-smokers had a right to breathe air not contaminated by a drug known to damage health and even kill.

Now smokers complain of being second-class citizens because they are not allowed to smoke where their smoke would assault other people.

Unfortunately, it is still entirely legal to smoke around children in your own home. It's not legal to beat your children, but second-hand smoke can cause worse and more lasting damage. Smoking around a child is a form of abuse. I suffered from that abuse, and my father and step-mother asserted that they had a right to smoke in their own home. I will not remain silent when someone asserts that they have a right to smoke around their children. If I had my way tobacco would be classified with heroin and cocaine and methamphetamine and its sale would be illegal. And addicts would be offered treatment at no cost.

In the presence of second-hand smoke I get headaches and become severely nauseated. On a boat this compounds my susceptibility to seasickness and can turn an enjoyable dive trip into a very unpleasant one. Boats which are not large enough to have a completely separate smoking area should not permit smoking at all.

The bottom line is that when you smoke you are forcing everyone around you to smoke as well. Smokers are not being treated as second-class citizens, because NO citizen is permitted to forcibly administer drugs to random strangers or to forcibly administer deadly, addictive, recreational drugs to their children.

 

[Pro Scuba Courses]

I quit smoking 8 months ago I am a very experienced diver and instructor, and don't feel it made any difference to my air consumption. HOWEVER I do feel a hell of a lot better in general! So glad I quit!

 

[gcarter]

I am sad to see that this thread, altough it started out as a good story, an encouraging story, has turned into yet another excuse to pile on smokers and tell them how bad and evil they are.

Those who are still smoking don't need that. It doesn't help get them to a quit place, it hinders them.

 

[daniel1948]

Different smokers have different attitudes. Some go out of their way to avoid inflicting their smoke on others. These people do not complain about rules limiting where they can smoke, and at home they refrain from smoking in the presence of children and non-smokers who are bothered by smoke. Others complain about such rules and insist that they should be allowed to smoke where they please. They smoke in the presence of their kids and they smoke in the presence of non-smokers.

I do NOT say that smokers are bad people. I have never said that. I said that my family abused me by smoking around me when I was a kid and powerless, and that they went so far as to scold me if I tried to wave away the plumes of smoke that came my way.

Every smoker can choose whether to be sensitive to non-smokers or not. Those who do get my approval. Those who do not get my approbation.

 

[melissawest]

WHOA!!!! I haven't been here in ages as I have been crazy busy. Thanks for the likes and thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate them all Firstly, I started this thread with good intentions, to simply share my happiness scuba diving brought to my married life and how quitting smoking made me feel like I'm a better diver because I feel alot better in general which in my opinion contributed to my improved air consumption. Some of you said it has nothing to do with stopping the habit but it came with experience, well. I also agree with you on that.

Never touched a cigarette since the day I quit. You can say it would be difficult for someone like me who goes out of her way to watch football in the pub where everybody seem to smoke, believe it or not, I do not get jealous of them anymore. No urge whatsoever. I'm free!!!

Scuba diving an exceptionally beautiful sport and we are all lucky to do it smokers and non smokers alike.

 

[scuboot]

It's been a while since I've been able to log on, so sorry for jumping in on this so late.

First off, Melissa congrats on quitting. I'm trying to right now, not so much for my diving but because my non-smoking girlfriend asked me too. Its not easy, I feel your pain.

boulderjohn, I hate to be that guy but here comes the argument you were glad hadn't came up yet. A good friend of mine I dove with alot before he rotated back to the states did not smoke. Every single dive he was the reason we came up. I remember once being told a story about smoking and running. If a non-smoker smokes 1, or even a half a cigaret before running their run time would be faster than normal. something to do with your lungs not normally using their full capacity and the smoke damaging them enough for them to go into emergency mode and use full capacity. I dont know much about that as I, like alot of others in this thread, am no doctor. Now how this is relevant, I told my friend this and asked if he'd be willing to try it out before a dive. He agreed and not only was he not the first in the group low on air, but he came up with just as much as I had. our normal ratio was about 500-1400. In this case at least it would appear that the one cigaret actually improved my friends SAC.

That being said, since I have slowed down on my smoking my SAC has not improved, but my free diving has improved significantly. With a pack a day I could only hit 15 feet and then came straight back up. Now I can hang out around 30 feet like it's cool.