Everyone has that teammate: Five minutes before training or the meeting point before the league game, one last cigarette — but then the next one just before showering.
In fact, these 6-12 mg of nicotine (depending on the cigarette) have a positive effect on your performance before physical exertion. But why is that the case and is that the whole truth?
The tobacco plant produces nicotine in its roots and allows this substance to migrate into the leaves. There, it serves to ward off predators, as it has a strong insecticidal effect.
If you add nicotine through a cigarette, it reaches our brain within about 10 seconds. This results in a release of dopamine — our hormone of happiness.
As soon as nicotine enters our bloodstream, the stress hormones adrenaline and serotonin are also released — the heart rate is increased, blood vessels constrict and blood pressure rises.
The body is now running at full speed — it has an improved ability to concentrate and an increased reaction speed — but that is only half the story!
An administration of isolated nicotine would actually result in these performance-enhancing factors. Smoking a cigarette before physical exertion, however, has significantly more performance-reducing factors than performance-enhancing factors.
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Inhaling cigarette smoke also absorbs carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide binds hemoglobin, the red blood pigment — it is virtually taken into manhood.
As a result, the body can absorb less oxygen, and blood flow to the coronary vessels also worsens. These two factors are already causing a massive loss of performance.
At the same time, almost 5,000 chemicals are administered to the body, around 100 of which are demonstrably carcinogenic. It is assumed that, statistically, a smoker “goes up in smoke” 10 years of their actual life expectancy — meaning that they die on average ten years earlier.
“An athlete is someone who smokes and drinks and still performs.”
There is really no worse way to sum it up. Sadly, the smoker will never really know where the limits of his performance actually lie — but he can at least always hide behind an excuse.
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