Stuff You Should Know - Is quitting smoking contagious?

Episode Date: September 23, 2008

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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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agency would turn out to be a front for a drug pilot who would claim he did it all for this CIA. I'm Lauren Brad Pacheco. Join me for murder in Miami. Talk about walking into the devil's den. Listen to Murder in Miami on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. Chuck Bryant here. I'm here, Josh, as always. And I'm Josh Clark, so thank you for joining us. 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 can really go for a smoke,

actually. I hate to admit it, but yeah, I'm a smoker. I'm a big time heavy, heavy smoker. Have been doing it for many, many years. That's what gives me this thick, lustrous voice. Right. Made for radio. Yeah, and as Chuck and most of the other people in the office know, if I could smoke in my cubicle, I would do so constantly. Right, like it's in 1950s. Exactly. Oh, I wish it was the 50s. So good. You'd have thrived. Yeah, because not only could I smoke, I could also drink at work as well, which would be nice. Yeah, it'd 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 seven, eight times an hour, which I understand people in the airline

industry have to do as well now. The FAA banned the use of this smoking cessation drug called the verenicline. Better known as shantix. Shantix, yes, yes. I always call it shavix, for some reason. Yeah, shantix. I don't know if you knew that. And basically, if you're an air traffic controller or a pilot, you are doomed to a life as a smoker, because at the very least, you can't use verenicline. Reports started trickling in that some people were suffering psychotic breaks, epilepsy seizures. I've heard it could make you suicidal. Suicidal thoughts. And I got to tell you that, and this is linked, it hasn't been proven, obviously, disclaimer, disclaimer. But the last thing you want in

an airline pilot is suicidal tendencies. Yeah. Because if you're going to go down, you might as well take the whole plane with you. Right. As you know, that's my worst way to die. Right, plane crash. So everybody in the airline industry that's either controlling planes or driving them is not allowed to take verenicline anymore. And so they're investigating it, because it's a brand new class of drugs. It's not like any other drug on the market. Right. And it targets these nicotinic receptors, which are really sensitive on the brain. And they basically amplify other neurotransmitters. So if you are drinking an alcoholic beverage, you want to smoke.

Yeah, absolutely. Right? The reason why, there's a Kansas State study that just came out that suggests 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 it has. It turns up the pleasure that you get. Right. Which actually provides a lot of foundation for new ports alive with pleasure ag campaign. Right. 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. Well, smoking definitely makes you feel better to a certain degree. Right. It does, which probably tells everybody how smoking works. Right. Yeah. I've been right. I've been right. Watch me go. Watch me go.

I've been writing a lot about smoking lately. So 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 in a very standard way, what we know about smoking is that it activates what the colonergic. Yeah. Pathways. That's the best way I can say it. Yeah, colonergic. We're going to go with colonergic. Sure. If you know the correct pronunciations, we're keeping it to yourself. So nicotine activates this and it's a pathway that transmits acetylcholine. Right. Which is responsible for the parasympathetic nervous system, which does what, Chuck? The opposite of what? You knew it was going to come

to this sooner or later. Fight or flight. It always does. The sympathetic system, our favorite thing. The key to the universe, the theory of everything. So basically, this stuff makes you sharper. Right. Makes you feel focused, but also calm as well. Right. So that's one effect. The problem is, is that when you, when you have these pathways damaged, it can lead to Alzheimer's because this stuff is in charge of memory and other cognitive functions. Right. Exactly. So smoking by proxy could arguably lead to Alzheimer's. It would overuse these pathways. Same thing goes with dopamine. Right. Dopamine is in the reward pathways of your brain and 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. Yeah. Punishment pathway. Yeah, exactly. AKA Catholicism. Yeah, exactly. I've got that going on. Mine's highly acute and well developed. Yeah. It also increases endorphins. And now you know what? A little something about endorphins. I want to tell you about endorphins, Chuck. Basically, they're the body's painkiller. Right. Natural painkiller. And it's triggered by stress or pain. Also, sex actually triggers a release of endorphins. Right. And when you have a rush of them, you get kind of high. You get euphoric. This is what's responsible for the runner's high. Yeah. Which I can tell you

as a smoker, I've never achieved. I have no clue what the runner's high feels like, right? Yeah. I start to wheeze very, very quickly before I ever even get close. You have a runner's low. Pretty much. It's more like a runner's like drag myself across the floor kind of thing. But so it's kind of like you get this from what I understand. The endorphins attach to the opiate receptors. Right. So all of a sudden, it's like taking a giant hit a smack it right in the old left arm. 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. Right. So you and I could bang the same knee, each of our knees on the same coffee table with the same force.

And, you know, we get different doses of endorphins released. So I didn't realize that. Apparently that's it's endorphins are one of the few neurotransmitters that happen like that. So basically smoking gets you going in all these ways. Right. And, you know, nicotine, we know is highly addictive substance, naturally occurring substance. There is no need for the outside world because we are removed from it and apart from it and in our own universe. On the new podcast, The Turning Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balanchine. There are not very many of us that actually grew up with Balanchine. It was like I grew up with Mozart.

He could do no wrong. Like he was a God. But what was the cost for the dancers who brought these ballets to life? Were the lines between the professional and the personal were hazy and often crossed? He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you. Only I can see you. Most people in the ballet world are more interested in their experience of watching it than in a dancer's experience of executing it. Listen to The Turning Room of Mirrors on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be

charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. It works. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever

you get your podcasts. Was that ever proven? Because I got to tell you the big tobacco guys are telling me that's not really true. Man, is it true? Those guys are evil incarnate, buddy. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm very sure. I've been to a lot of smoking research and not only is nicotine really addictive, but cigarette companies have gone out of their way to add all sorts of stuff to make it even more addictive to increase that rush of endorphins. 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, Chuck. Well, there's 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette and 599 ingredients in each and every cigarette. So that's value. I mean, how much is

a cigarette? It's nothing. 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? Right. You don't need that stuff, man. The body doesn't need cadmium? Your cell phone battery does. I should probably stop taking my cadmium supplements. Yeah, you should. Gotcha. Here's another smoking stat you might like. A packet-day smoker ingest a full cup of tar every year into their lungs. What about a two packet-day smoker? Would that be two cups of tar? Two cups of tar. It's a one-to-one ratio there. Wow. 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 companies started getting sued, like everyone knows

they're bad for you. How can you sue the cigarette companies? Sure. I don't feel that way anymore. Doing this research because I don't know about you as a smoker, but a lot of smokers, when they wake up, they have a pretty bad cough. 80% of smokers have that first cigarette in the first 10 minutes of their day. And it makes them stop coughing. So throw yourself back to the 1950s before all these Surgeon General's warnings and things. When the Surgeon General was actually smoking. Right, exactly. You would wake up and cough and feel really bad. You have a cigarette and it makes you feel better. So you keep smoking. Right. What's going on there is inside your body, inside your lungs and your bronchial tubes and everything, your little cilia, little hairs that

are like little street sweepers that just kind of swing back and forth and they clean out, you know, the bad debris in the particles and they get to work. Right. Smoking kills those guys, numbs them or kills them. So where they stop sweeping. So you collect all the gook 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 stuff built up. So you want to cough it out. Take that first cigarette and it kills the cilia again. They stop working. You stop coughing. You think you feel better. That's nuts. Isn't that crazy? That is crazy. That's biology, man. Wow. Wow. Here's something else for you. You know what freebase nicotine is?

I know what freebasing is. Well, it's kind of the same thing as crack cocaine, honestly. Well, basically it's nicotine that's missing a hydrogen ion. It's molecular structure. It's missing one hydrogen ion. And without it, 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. It gets you high quicker. So it's missing a hydrogen ion? Yep. Is it still packed with cadmium? Oh yeah, there's still the cadmium. So what they found out is a lot of these major brands of cigarettes have like 10 to 20 times the amount of freebase nicotine that they

thought. So they're doing this on purpose. Wow. Not only that, they put it in the end of the cigarette. So your first few puffs get you off quicker and get you that nicotine hit quicker. Wow. So it's all very deliberate. It's all on purpose because they like to sell smokes. They're making a lot of money on this stuff. They really are, yeah. So much so that there's another startling stat. 50% of people that have had surgery for lung cancer start smoking again after their surgery. Yeah, I've known a couple people who, not lung cancer, but like heart attacks, major coronary bypass surgery, who still smoke. And I guess that is kind of, that's either a testament to their stupidity or the addictiveness of smoking. Yeah, 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. That's fine. I've got a couple minutes. This brings us to the article I wrote is quitting smoking contagious. And it turns out it sort of is. By contagious, we mean it's much, much easier to stop if you do it with a partner. There is no need for the outside world because we are removed from it and apart from it and in our own universe. On the new podcast, The Turning, Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balanchine. There are not very many of us that actually grew

up with Balanchine. It was like I grew up with Mozart. He could do no wrong. Like he was a god. But what was the cost for the dancers who brought these ballets to life, where the lines between the professional and the personal were hazy and often crossed? He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you. Only I can see you. Most people in the ballet world are more interested in their experience of watching it than in a dancer's experience of executing it. Listen to The Turning, Room of Mirrors on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy,

number one, is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed.

They call civil answer. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, all right. So let's talk about that. All right, let's do. There's a few little stats here we could talk about too. Men generally have a generally have a 7% higher likelihood of quitting smoking than women. Why? You've got that on your side. They don't really know. They think one reason might be because a lot of times there's a weight gain associated with quitting. Oh, yeah. And that women might be a little more bashful about putting on some pounds than men are. I got you. And it's a lot of it has to do

with genetics, too. You're talking about the nicotine receptors in your brain. There's a receptor gene called this is exciting. It's called CHR in a five. Oh, of course. And 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? Yeah. So you're more likely than bite by extension to be addicted. Yeah. And to be to continue smoking. So genetics are involved. Your sex is involved. Mental illness. This is kind of interesting. 75 to 95. 75 to 90% of schizophrenics are smokers. Really? Well, that's funny because they were hoping to use Chavix to treat Shanta. Yeah. That's okay. Thanks. All that is interesting because bipolar disorder 60 to 70%

and alcoholics 80% of alcoholics smoke too. So again, though, that falls in line with that K state study that, you know, it's smoking and drinking alcohol, smoking and drinking coffee, smoking and food. We derive pleasure from all these. And it's like putting the whipped cream on the ice cream. Right. When you have a cigarette, it's just eating vanilla ice cream. But then, hey, you've got the whipped cream on top. It's even better. It's even better. It's kind of like that. So what they've learned is that there's this big study. I know that you love this study, the Farmington Heart Study. I love this study. It's enormous. It's sweeping. This is what a study should be like 21 years. What, 12,000? 12,000 residents of Farmington,

Massachusetts were studied over 32 year period. I mean, that is, you're talking about some really, a really good data. It's significant data. Yes. Yeah. It's really cool. So they studied all these people and it's a heart study. So it wasn't just for smoking. It's just about the heart in general. Okay. But about 5,000 out of these 12,000 are smokers, which they define by smoking more than one cigarette every day. Yeah. Which is a little high actually. Only about 24% of the population in the United States smokes now. Really? Yeah. It's on the high side. I'm part of a dying breed, aren't I? Yeah, you are. Yeah. Very, very literally. Literally. So they studied these folks and they found, what they basically did was they researched friends and family members

and co-workers to get a subset of connection basically, people who were connected to each other. Right. And what they found were that people that quit smoking, whose spouse quit smoking, you're 67% less likely to smoke if your spouse quit. Now, I can understand that, you know, because you're living with somebody, you see you every day. Yeah. But in quite the opposite, you can intimidate your mate of smoking if they know they're going to get in trouble. There's that kind of... Exactly. Yeah. Fear, fear-based. Yes, exactly. And extended, even further than that, co-workers were 34% less likely to continue smoking because I know a lot of times you have your smoke buddies that you don't have your smoke with. Sure. I'm not naming names,

though. No names being named. But if that person were to quit, then you're 34% less likely to continue smoking. Well, don't you think that's a significant drop? I mean, that's 67% to 34%. Well, hopefully that's kind of a good ratio from your spouse to a co-worker. I guess, yeah. Close friends, you have a 36% chance of continuing smoke and siblings is 25%. Sure. So they definitely established a link that if you quit smoking with somebody else, a big significant chance that you're going to quit smoking as well. Well, what I found super interesting in this article was that you said that the six degrees of separation rule actually applies. Right. Kevin Bacon rule. Exactly. Yeah. And if you put it, there's subject A, B, and C.

And subject A, no subject B. And subject B, no subject C. Is everyone following this so far? Yes. Okay. 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. How? I don't know. I don't understand that. Does subject B, just by knowing subject A carry the triumph of quitting with him or her to subject C or what? Maybe so. I don't think that can be explained, but it's in the data. I mean, 29% percent less likely to continue smoking. Subject C is if subject A quits, even if they don't know each other. Gotcha. And subject D, it extends even farther, 11% chance. That's crazy. So that's four people, three people away. So 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 that 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. 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 or they died. One of the two. Yeah, exactly. That's the downer. I hadn't considered that. But the good news is you need to 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.

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, I'm glad that was your takeaway. It was. I'm going to actually go uh, puff over this whole thing, chew over it. I mean, sorry. I'm going to go for a jog. Yeah. Well, like, don't you go anywhere. Don't smoke or anything like that. Just stick around for a second to find out which article in 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 a best way to say this. Uh, rural folks will go out into a lake. They will get into the water. Yeah. 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 I've heard it called stumping, I think, or something like that. Well, by any other name is, 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 going to go ahead and say that catfish is delish no matter how you catch it. Yeah. 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 about. It'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 HowStuffWorks.com. Chuck, command you. Private investigator on a collision course with corruption and multiple murders. The detective agency would turn out to be a front for a drug pilot would claim he did it all for this CIA. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco. Join me for murder in Miami. Talk about walking into the devil's

den. Listen to murder in Miami on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1968, five black girls were picked up by police after running away from a reform school in Mount Megs, Alabama. I'm writer and reporter, Josie Duffy Rice. And in a new podcast, I investigate the abuse that thousands of black children suffered at the Alabama industrial school for Negro children and how those five girls changed everything. Listen to unreformed on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.