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I started smoking on the day of my 16th birthday, which, at the time and place, was the legal smoking age. It was irresistible for a high school kid with a job

I started smoking on the day of my 16th birthday, which, at the time and place, was the legal smoking age. It was irresistible for a high school kid with a job. By the end of that first pack I was completely hooked and smoking would be a permanent part of daily life. I only smoked for about a year before deciding to quit. Unfortunately, I took me 12 years to finish quitting. During that period of my physical prime (ages 18 to 26), I couldn't climb a flight of stairs or ride a bike without getting completely winded. Any sort of physical exertion would result in gasping, coughing up phlegm, and seeing stars. A pick-up game of basketball or street hockey was out of the question. I finally kicked it at age 30, 14 years after I had started. Although it took a while, by age 35 I could physically do things my 20-year-old self could only dream of. Like riding a bike up a hill, or exerting oneself at the gym. I'm now in my mid-40s, and while the rest of body is now deteriorating at an alarming rate, my lungs are quite literally the only part of my body I never think about. I'm physically stronger and healthier in my mid-40s than I was at age 20. So if you smoke, quit. Your lungs will recover.

barry-cotter 7y ago
> During that period of my physical prime (ages 18 to 26), I couldn't climb a flight of stairs or ride a bike without getting completely winded. Any sort of physical exertion would result in gasping, coughing up phlegm, and seeing stars. I started running when I was probably smoking 10 a day and was in the best shape of my life up to that point. If you don’t do any exercise and you smoke you’re likely to be in pretty awful shape. But you can easily smoke and be in much better shape than people who don’t exercise. The bar is very low.
jimmaswell 7y ago
>couldn't climb a flight of stairs or ride a bike without getting completely winded. Any sort of physical exertion would result in gasping, coughing up phlegm, and seeing stars How did society get on just fine when almost everybody smoked? Is this reaction an outlier?
- mixmastamyk 7y ago
  Exercise was for suckers and the industrial revolution had already happened.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Not everybody smoked back then, you still stinked worse than pile of shit and it costed you quite a bit. Look at some old photos. Unless one worked hard manually, almost all guys had thin hands, visible bellies, a bit hunched back and other signs of unhealthy lifestyle. Most of them didn't live till 80 unless they had very good eating habits or some manual hobbies. My grandparents are 92 and 93. All of their colleagues from work, all of their friends, siblings are gone. They had a healthy workout of managing garden, raising kids, collecting mushrooms in the forest, occasional walk or hike in mountains. Steady life. Not much drinking, no smoking (grandpa quit when he was still young, my father forced him). I believe daily chores and manual work helps to keep the body well. Its not about intensity but regularity. You see all the old folks who live long, but for every one of them there are many more who died because of bad luck (decisions, genes) and bad habits.
- dmurray 7y ago
  Even serious athletes used to smoke. Here's a famous photo [0] from the Tour de France of the cyclists smoking in the 1920s. The accepted wisdom was it "opened up your lungs", which might even be correct if you're already a habitual smoker. And there are plenty more anecdotes of elite footballers, tennis players etc being heavy smokers up until the 80s or later. [0] https://twistedsifter.com/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-vintage-tour-de-france-shot-from-the-1920s/ https://twistedsifter.com/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-vintage...
  - vic-traill 7y ago
    Guy Lafleur - the Hockey Hall of Fame former Montreal Canadiens forward - was a notorious smoker in the 70s through to the 80s. You wouldn't believe it watching him skate, he was a speedster. Technique overcoming the respiratory system, I suppose. He admits smoking in intermissions between periods in this interview [0] [0] http://oilersnation.com/2013/10/16/guy-lafleur-shares-some-stories/ http://oilersnation.com/2013/10/16/guy-lafleur-shares-some-s...
mlang23 7y ago
Some people seem to have a more pronounced bodily reaction to smoking. Your story reads a bit extreme tough. This reminds me of a story that went the other way round. When I walked up a small hill in my home town with my non-smoking ex-girlfriend she ended up asking for a break because she was exhausted and breathing noticably hard. while I was completely calm walking next to her with a cig in my hand. This isn't to promote smoking while taking a walk. But it seems lung capacity is pretty much different from person to person, and sometimes smokers are actually more fit then non-smokers.
- ianai 7y ago
  All that takes is you growing up or otherwise being acclimated to higher altitudes than her.
  - mlang23 7y ago
    Even that isn't true. She actually grew up with roughly 500m more altitude then I did. Not much, but still.
- mixmastamyk 7y ago
  There are many folks who refuse to exert themselves and a few smokers that do. Sometimes they meet.

barry-cotter 7y ago

> During that period of my physical prime (ages 18 to 26), I couldn't climb a flight of stairs or ride a bike without getting completely winded. Any sort of physical exertion would result in gasping, coughing up phlegm, and seeing stars. I started running when I was probably smoking 10 a day and was in the best shape of my life up to that point. If you don’t do any exercise and you smoke you’re likely to be in pretty awful shape. But you can easily smoke and be in much better shape than people who don’t exercise. The bar is very low.

jimmaswell 7y ago

>couldn't climb a flight of stairs or ride a bike without getting completely winded. Any sort of physical exertion would result in gasping, coughing up phlegm, and seeing stars How did society get on just fine when almost everybody smoked? Is this reaction an outlier?

mixmastamyk 7y ago
Exercise was for suckers and the industrial revolution had already happened.
saiya-jin 7y ago
Not everybody smoked back then, you still stinked worse than pile of shit and it costed you quite a bit. Look at some old photos. Unless one worked hard manually, almost all guys had thin hands, visible bellies, a bit hunched back and other signs of unhealthy lifestyle. Most of them didn't live till 80 unless they had very good eating habits or some manual hobbies. My grandparents are 92 and 93. All of their colleagues from work, all of their friends, siblings are gone. They had a healthy workout of managing garden, raising kids, collecting mushrooms in the forest, occasional walk or hike in mountains. Steady life. Not much drinking, no smoking (grandpa quit when he was still young, my father forced him). I believe daily chores and manual work helps to keep the body well. Its not about intensity but regularity. You see all the old folks who live long, but for every one of them there are many more who died because of bad luck (decisions, genes) and bad habits.
dmurray 7y ago
Even serious athletes used to smoke. Here's a famous photo [0] from the Tour de France of the cyclists smoking in the 1920s. The accepted wisdom was it "opened up your lungs", which might even be correct if you're already a habitual smoker. And there are plenty more anecdotes of elite footballers, tennis players etc being heavy smokers up until the 80s or later. [0] https://twistedsifter.com/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-vintage-tour-de-france-shot-from-the-1920s/ https://twistedsifter.com/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-vintage...
- vic-traill 7y ago
  Guy Lafleur - the Hockey Hall of Fame former Montreal Canadiens forward - was a notorious smoker in the 70s through to the 80s. You wouldn't believe it watching him skate, he was a speedster. Technique overcoming the respiratory system, I suppose. He admits smoking in intermissions between periods in this interview [0] [0] http://oilersnation.com/2013/10/16/guy-lafleur-shares-some-stories/ http://oilersnation.com/2013/10/16/guy-lafleur-shares-some-s...

mlang23 7y ago

Some people seem to have a more pronounced bodily reaction to smoking. Your story reads a bit extreme tough. This reminds me of a story that went the other way round. When I walked up a small hill in my home town with my non-smoking ex-girlfriend she ended up asking for a break because she was exhausted and breathing noticably hard. while I was completely calm walking next to her with a cig in my hand. This isn't to promote smoking while taking a walk. But it seems lung capacity is pretty much different from person to person, and sometimes smokers are actually more fit then non-smokers.

ianai 7y ago
All that takes is you growing up or otherwise being acclimated to higher altitudes than her.
- mlang23 7y ago
  Even that isn't true. She actually grew up with roughly 500m more altitude then I did. Not much, but still.
mixmastamyk 7y ago
There are many folks who refuse to exert themselves and a few smokers that do. Sometimes they meet.