That is, the more you smoked, the less distance you ran. The longer the participant in the race had been smoking, the worse he/she performed. For example, the average non-smoker could cover 2613 meters in 12 minutes, while a smoker of less than 2 years who smoked 21+ cigarettes a day could only cover 2284 meters. A smoker of more than 4 years who smoked 21+ cigarettes a day could only cover 2188 meters4. These results show how performance decreases the more a person smokes in their lifetime. An experiment performed by Robert C. Klesges et al. found that although smokers did fewer sports, and leisure time activities, they did the same amount of anaerobic activities5. The study also found that smokers had the same energy intake as non-smokers, indicating that eating habits were not a factor in the fitness levels. Smokers average 30-35 kcal per day less of high intensity activity than non-smokers6. This reduced aerobic physical activity can be attributed to the fact that smoking causes an increase in carboxyl hemoglobin, which decreases the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, which would cause relative hypoxia in tissues and lead to reduce performance during maximal physical exertion7. Since smoking is so detrimental to the oxygen transport system, it affects endurance capacity more than any other element of fitness such as muscle strength or speed. This must be taken in consideration if an athlete wishes to smoke. No longer will his or her muscle strength be a factor. Instead, their decreased ability to carry oxygen will severely limit their performance. Many sports and activities require the athlete to do notable amounts of work and expend a fair amount of energy. When an athlete smokes, they will not be able to get the required oxygen to the necessary parts of the body, and therefore will not perform as well. It has been proven that even if you have smoked, when you quit smoking your levels of physical activity will increase8.
