Jan 03: Teenagers who smoke are at a high risk of bad health. The recent study reported in ‘New Scientist Magazine' conducted by Yale University , United States says that teenagers who have a bad habit of smoking or whose mother smokes during pregnancy may face hearing problems and even their brains could be badly affected.
We all are familiar with the diseases like lung cancer, hypertension, heart disease, birth disease and many more-all are perils of smoking. Mental illness has added to this list according to new research. If smoking doesn't kill you, it may leave you in despair.
The computer tests conducted on 67 teenagers comprised boys and girls, aged 13 to 18, where they were asked to recognise words while distracted by visual images and background noises.
Among the boys who were tested, got 77% right, who used to smoke while those who didn't got 85% right. In girls the breakdown was 84% to 90%.
The researchers concluded that teenagers who exposed to smoke had trouble in focusing and interpreting sounds when there was a distraction.
The researchers said that there is ‘white matter-the neural tissue' in every brain. The team carried out brain scans on the teenagers and found teenagers who exposed to smoke have got more white matter, responsible for transmitting message.
The previous research has concluded that overdeveloped white matter in children create problems in transmitting and interpreting sounds because the white matter is out of sync with the rest of the brain.
They said the over-production of the white matter is caused by ‘nicotine' that stimulates a chemical compound called acetylcholine. And, it is useless to say where nicotine is found.
So researchers says avoid smoking thus get life free from nicotine and get a good mental ability.
Brain is particularly vulnerable to the effects of tobacco during adolescence, when it rapidly matures. Researchers have shown that young smokers, particularly boys, are more likely to suffer hearing problems, making it harder for them to focus in class. It seems the brain remains vulnerable long into adolescence.
"The levels of disruption to hearing are significant enough that if you were already struggling at school it could tip you towards school failure," said Dr Leslie Jacobsen, a paediatric psychiatrist at Yale University in the United States.
“The study added to research showing nicotine can affect brain development in the womb,� said Dr Richard Todd, a child psychiatrist in the US state of Missouri.
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