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smoking and sport

Do you know smoking reduces your sporting performance?

If you look closely at the Shane and Sally game you will see people who are playing sport.

Look for what Shane and Sally have to say about sport and smoking.

Ask yourself:

  • How does your body produce the extra energy required to play sport?
  • How does smoking affect your sporting performance?

 You will find the answers to these questions below.

Shane and Sally
Your Body
When you play sport, or do any other form of strenuous activity, it needs large amounts of energy. Your body is like an engine and like an engine it needs fuel to work. The lungs provide fuel in the form of oxygen. Then the blood transports this fuel to the muscles that burn it during physical activity.

Effects of Smoking
Smoking interferes with the body's ability to function in a number of ways:
  • Tobacco smoke affects the lungs so that they work less efficiently. They can't pick up the amount of oxygen that a body needs when it is working hard.
  • Tobacco smoke contains a chemical (carbon monoxide) that gets into the blood stream and prevents it from picking up oxygen
  • Tobacco smoke contains other chemicals that affect the circulation of blood. They make the blood vessels smaller so that they are less able to carry oxygen when your body is burning up large amounts of energy.

If you smoke your body will have less fuel and the little fuel it has is not transported to those areas that need it when you are playing sport. Because of this smokers tend to have less energy and find it hard to keep high levels of fitness. At first you may not notice much difference, but the more you smoke and the longer you smoke the more you will notice it having an effect on you.


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