4 ms·

Dosage and frequency are 2 different things. Smoking a pack of cigarettes every year wont kill you, but smoking one cigaratte a day for a year might.

adrianN 7y ago
I'd be interested in a good study that compared smoking one cigarette a day with smoking 365 cigarettes "at once". (or more likely a less immediately lethal dose both for daily as well as "at once" consumption) My intuition would be the opposite of yours. I think our body is reasonably well equipped to handle low dose exposure, but large doses at once are more likely to cause irreversible damage.
- draklor40 7y ago
  Is one cigarette a day, dosage low enough for the body to benefit from it, or atleast not be damaged by it? Is a pack of cigarettes high enough to kill you if you smoke it all at once ? I know quite a few friends who get through a pack a day. I didn't say 365 cigarettes at once. Everyone knows its too high a dosage that might actually kill a person, just like a high enough dose of caffeine or alcohol. I don't think a cigarette a day is low dosage. While you might not die of a heart attack or get lung cancer directly from smoking, it might still increase the risk of serious diseases given other environmental conditions, your fitness level, diet, etc. The 2 drinks a day has to be seen in a similar light.
- codyb 7y ago
  I read of a study once which said smokers who wait until after breakfast are less likely to develop cancer. Which makes me think maybe it’s the length of time between, in which case you might be better off smoking seven on Sunday than one a day.
- jcutrell 7y ago
  There are studies that show not this level of extreme, but that there is what is called “wasted harm” - the harm done by 3 packs a day is not 3x the harm done by 1 pack a day, and 1 pack a day for 5 years is thus worse than 5 packs a day for 1 year.
  - MadWombat 7y ago
    5 packs is a 100 cigarettes. About one cigarette every 10 minutes if you account for 8 hours of sleep. I have seen some obsessive smokers, people who smoke 2-3 packs a day, but I have never seen a 5 pack a day person or anywhere even close.

adrianN 7y ago

I'd be interested in a good study that compared smoking one cigarette a day with smoking 365 cigarettes "at once". (or more likely a less immediately lethal dose both for daily as well as "at once" consumption) My intuition would be the opposite of yours. I think our body is reasonably well equipped to handle low dose exposure, but large doses at once are more likely to cause irreversible damage.

draklor40 7y ago
Is one cigarette a day, dosage low enough for the body to benefit from it, or atleast not be damaged by it? Is a pack of cigarettes high enough to kill you if you smoke it all at once ? I know quite a few friends who get through a pack a day. I didn't say 365 cigarettes at once. Everyone knows its too high a dosage that might actually kill a person, just like a high enough dose of caffeine or alcohol. I don't think a cigarette a day is low dosage. While you might not die of a heart attack or get lung cancer directly from smoking, it might still increase the risk of serious diseases given other environmental conditions, your fitness level, diet, etc. The 2 drinks a day has to be seen in a similar light.
codyb 7y ago
I read of a study once which said smokers who wait until after breakfast are less likely to develop cancer. Which makes me think maybe it’s the length of time between, in which case you might be better off smoking seven on Sunday than one a day.
jcutrell 7y ago
There are studies that show not this level of extreme, but that there is what is called “wasted harm” - the harm done by 3 packs a day is not 3x the harm done by 1 pack a day, and 1 pack a day for 5 years is thus worse than 5 packs a day for 1 year.
- MadWombat 7y ago
  5 packs is a 100 cigarettes. About one cigarette every 10 minutes if you account for 8 hours of sleep. I have seen some obsessive smokers, people who smoke 2-3 packs a day, but I have never seen a 5 pack a day person or anywhere even close.