Hookah and your Health

[[LB]]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to see how everyone's lungs feels lately. My wrestling season is coming up, and i figured id be winded because of hookah smoking, so i went for a run [i]directly[/i] after smoking a fat bowl. Lets just say my run was nothing short of phenomenal, i ran a two mile sprint and came home with only my legs aching. Has anyone felt short of breath lately or uncomfortable breathing?

[Yonatan]

no, it doesn't affect me at all either...

i play basketball and i can't feel any difference in my athletic ability.

yay!

[oryon1033]

I think if you keep yourself in shape it doesn't affect you so much. If you kind of get lazy and then do something strenuous after a long time of doing nothin it can be noticeable.

[OPR234]

Sometimes I wake up with a sore throat and the feeling of a lump that i cant cough up when i try. Other than that I dont really feel it as far as lung capacity or anything.

[Anpu]

Actually I ran somewhat recently after smoking about half a bowl. Ran a mile and a half almost without stopping for the first time in about 6 months (before then, I could barely run a mile and that was before I started smoking) and I felt great except for my legs lol. Wierd. But, lets just say I didn't even wanna SMELL shisha after I was done with that run.

[MR Bubble]

Hey all, don't want bust anyone's bubble (pun intended), but your age is a factor in it. In my younger days, I was still smoking cigarettes like a freight train and always had good runs. I was consistently running 2 mile courses in 14:00. But as age sat in, I was going slower, with more labor in my breathing. Sure, age played a part in it also, but my non-smoking peers were still doing better. Now at 40, I really regret it all, as I have to try so much harder than others my age. Just food for thought, but your activity is the best thing I could recommend if you're adamant on smoking anything.

MR Bubble

[ikellen]

Here's my take on it. While there are possible health negatives from Nicotine, etc., I believe those of us who like to take big rips actually develop stronger lungs because smoking a hookah exercises the diaphram (the muscle that makes your lungs pump air in and out). I used to smoke weed occasionally, and I used to only take little hits, but recently I was hanging with some friends and when I hit my friends piece, I was able to take much larger hits, probably because of hookah.

IMO

[HookahDuck]

ikellen, I believe you are refering to simply lung capacity conditioning. Similar to breath-training on my swim team in Highschool, the more you exhaust your lungs, the more capacity they will develop. We used to practice by sprinting 50's while submerged, over, and over, and over for days. By the end of it, it was amazing how long I could hold my breath.

Im sure smoking hookah does perhaps expand them a little.. however, im sure the adverse health affects far outweigh this

[Joseph]

Yeah, umm, Ikellen, don't fool yourself.

[OPR234]

Not trying to burst your bubble, but the reason you can take bigger rips is probably because your throat and lungs have become less sensitive to what and how much is being inhaled.

[[LB]]

i think tar is to blame. Just a feeling i have, if you look at a smoker's (cigarrettes) lungs after an autopsy or something you see large black patches composed of sticky tar. Lungs are by nature a spongy tissue, and tar hardens them significantly, therefore they would be restriced from expanding and would not be able to supply you with good ol air.

[Sonthert]

AZ Coyote was telling me that his short-term health improved from switching from cigarettes to hookah, in his opinion. Long term effects are death, of course.

[imonlyapuppet]

Look at the surgeons general warnings on cigarette packs, those are some side effects of smoking the hookah.

Smoking tobacco will shorten your life, period.

[Sonthert]

Wait a minute, thats my line....hookah will shorten your life. Something like that.

[jackmall33]

[quote name='imonlyapuppet']Look at the surgeons general warnings on cigarette packs, those are some side effects of smoking the hookah.

Smoking tobacco will shorten your life, period.[/quote]

ok so im a casual hookah smoker, i own a 3 hose hookah bros hookah and i keep it clean. I smoke hookah about once a week, and i dont think that smoking hookah once a week has any health detriments. I play lacrosse 3 times a week and havent noticed any differnece in my ability or fitness level. Is this a false sense of invincibility, or does casually smoking hookah have close to zero health issues.

[Dragonsmettle]

The worst ive felt is a little flemy in my throat the next morning, but it always goes away quickly

[entrailsgalore]

[quote name='imonlyapuppet']Look at the surgeons general warnings on cigarette packs, those are some side effects of smoking the hookah.

Smoking tobacco will shorten your life, period.[/quote]

Yup exactly. However, smoking hookah is still theoredically healthier than cigs, due to the lack of the 400+ chemicals cigs contain.

[Dragonsmettle]

the way i see it as better, is that hookah is suppose to be a relaxing social thing. Maybe once a week with 3 or 4 buddies also taking puffs, makeing it so you get less nicotine than a cigarette

[entrailsgalore]

But is inhaling more nicotine worse than inhalling less but added with 400 chemicals?

[ThePaulson]

Entrails, you said it right. While smoking anything is not good for you, it comes down to matter of frequency. Cigarettes have lots of stuff added to them to increase the nicotine binding potential and boost the addictive properties. I smoked cigs for about 7 years, and while sometimes I do miss the simple pleasure of a quick smoke, I'm glad to have quit. I NEVER crave smoking my hookah, whereas with cigarettes, I wanted another one about once every 90 minutes, and not getting one was a serious problem. I can go without smoking my hookah, but I just like it.

Will hookah/pipe smoking shorten my life? Yes, it most likely will. I can not say that I care much (yes, I recognize that this may be the niave romantic sentiment of a mid-twenty something), largely because I enjoy tobacco enormously. It's a matter of quality of life over quantity of life for me. I am aware of the advserse consequences of what I do, and willfully ignore them. Cigarettes quickly become an addiction, and the act of smoking becomes the servicing of that addiction. Smoking a hookah, pipe, cigar, is conceptally similar to drinking a nice bourbon or a good wine... it's something to be savored and enjoyed, both for the sensations of taste and the relaxing properties of nicotine, but also for the company.

I usually smoke when I'm studying, which I do constantly, but I'm glad to have this medium of communication with the outside world.

Smoke and enjoy, live richly, sin boldly,
Paulson

[Calcartman]

[quote name='jackmall33'][quote name='imonlyapuppet']Look at the surgeons general warnings on cigarette packs, those are some side effects of smoking the hookah.

Smoking tobacco will shorten your life, period.[/quote]

ok so im a casual hookah smoker, i own a 3 hose hookah bros hookah and i keep it clean. I smoke hookah about once a week, and i dont think that smoking hookah once a week has any health detriments. I play lacrosse 3 times a week and havent noticed any differnece in my ability or fitness level. Is this a false sense of invincibility, or does casually smoking hookah have close to zero health issues.[/quote]

You're deluding yourself if you think that smoking hookah has no health issues.
Smoking anything will kill you.
Period.
now the good news:
the less you do it, the better.