Secondhand smoke and Cycling

What is the effect of exposure to secondhand smoke on one's aerobic capacity. As a college student, I encounter many people every day smoking outside of buildings and I have friends who live and smoke in enclosed areas. Will spending 4 or 5 hours on a saturday night in a room with people smoking cigarettes noticeably hinder my aerobic capacity? Is this just something I have to accept being exposed to?

Frank Pearson

Judging from a quick search at pubmed.com, there is evidence of respiratory inflammations and restrictions caused be quite short exposures to second hand smoke (SHS):

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=14985618
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
3. http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/ap...lts,1:100675,1
4. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5208a2.htm

My quick search didn't find any articles directly dealing with your subject, but (2) is focused on highschool athletes.
If I was to dwelve into annecdotal evidence and logic to discuss the subject on my own, well then you might consider if increased nasal resistance and decreased airway conductance is beneficial when trying to get as much O2 into the lungs and out to your working muscles?

Apart from the short-term effects from SHS, the current scientific body of evidence quite clearly indicates, that exposure to SHS should be reduced as much as possible. Again pubmed.com will help finding more relevant studies.

You might want to reference (section 7):
http://oaspub.epa.gov/eims/eimscomm....nload_id=36793
(A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study)

Btw. Studies on aerobic capacity in smoker and non-smokers can also be found, if you'r interested, for example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15260039

G'day The answer is "IT WILL KILL YOU" don't hang around anyone and get any smoke new or second hand, if we were meant to smoke we would have been born with a chimney already fitted?

Do yourself a favour wear a respirator when the others ask, why you do this grasshopper, you say "B*&%*($#*&$@@#!#+? Bloody Smoking"?

No you don't have to accept being exposed to any of this ****, get out of there, whatever your doing it for is not worth it?

Keep the wheels in motion, and don't look back, unless it's to see who you dropped on the last climb? TBC

I'd have to agree with the above (angry) reply. Secondhand smoke just pisses me off. I grew up with 2 inside smokers...hell, inside, outside, anywhere they could get there damn hands on a cig...Anyway, stay away from it. I even go as far as to hold my breath when I walk by somebody smoking. Man, I just can't tell you how much this crap hurts you. If your "friends" care about you at all, they'll realize that they are slowly killing you and won't smoke around you. If not, find new friends that won't poison you. Try approaching them with that. Man, life is too short.......especially for other selfish (in denial) people to be contributing to your demise.

Thank you for your replies. I'm going to stay out of that environment, its not worth the damage that can be done. I'm going to talk to my friends about it.

Frank Pearson