Secondhand smoke a downer for mood as well as lungs (USAToday/Delmarva Times)

[eppur_se_muova]

March 6, 2009



Secondhand smoke a downer for mood as well as lungs

By Marilyn Elias
USA Today



CHICAGO -- Secondhand smoke not only can irritate your lungs, it also apparently can blacken your mood as well, a large study reports today.

Non-smokers exposed to cigarette smoke at home or work are more than twice as likely as those not exposed to have major depression, according to a report at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Chicago.

It's believed to be the first U.S. study tying secondhand smoke to depression; another in Japan came up with a similar conclusion.

Unlike the Japanese research, this study confirmed exposure to smoke by measuring cotinine, a chemical that occurs in blood after breathing in smoke. There were cotinine levels for more than 3,000 non-smoking adults in a federal health study. An additional 92,000 non-smokers only reported if they lived with or worked around smokers. Everyone also filled out questionnaires on symptoms of depression.

Whether secondhand smoke was verified by the blood, those exposed to smoke were far more likely to have symptoms of serious depression, said study leader Frank Bandiera, a public health researcher at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Even working where smoking was allowed in public places more than doubled the risk of depression, he said.
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more: http://www.tobaccofree.org/news%20articles/2009-03-06-USA-Today-2nd-Hand-Smoke/2009-03-06-USA-Today-2nd-Hand-Smoke.htm

[KT2000]

1. What I really wish

is that when these studies refer to second hand smoke that they be more specific about the constituents of the smoke. There are many many additives to cigarettes and to the tobacco plant. It is important that we know what chemicals when burned are creating the effects they specify. In truth the term second hand smoke includes varying products from those that are organic and free of additives to those that are loaded with all kinds of additives.
Is it burning tobacco itself that is causing the effects or specific additives?

Second hand smoke is a term used so that findings cannot be applied to other products that may harbor the same dangers. For example, burning pesticides, which are found in many products, is a big no no.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I wonder if this would apply

to having a fireplace too.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. I don't know...

When I smell second-hand smoke I think, "Woo-hoo! I'm someplace where they haven't banned absolutely everything!"

[ixion]

4. ...

:eyes:

[bbinacan]

5. I'm so tired of this "second hand smoke"

bullshit I could scream. Hell, we get more dangerous and noxious fumes on a street corner.

[Warpy]

8. No, we don't.

However, were smoking done on the street instead of in enclosed spaces, it would certainly be no worse.

[Mamacrat]

6. Sinus/allergy

Secondhand smoke causes me to have sinus and allergy problems, which when bad enough cause me to feel really depressed. I've often said that when I start feeling depressed I probably am getting a sinus infection. I get them from other allergens, too, not just smoke. But, secondhand smoke is bad enough that I avoid places where I'll be exposed to it.

[csibona]

7. There are people who still smoke?