Tobacco reduces intelligence

Smokers have a lower IQ than non-smokers and the longer the smoking time, the more deteriorated the human mind is.

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Artwork: josieswindow.info

Dr Mark Weiser, an expert at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel - and colleagues tracked more than 20,000 Jewish soldiers to assess the impact of smoking on intelligence, China Daily reported. .

Scientists have found some evidence of the relationship between smoking habits and intelligence decline. However, many previous studies were based on tests of human thinking ability in early childhood. In addition, many scientists have studied people with neurological or abnormal behavior - two subjects tend to smoke and have low IQ.

To better understand the relationship between smoking and IQ, Weiser and his team studied more than 20 thousand 18-year-old men in the Israeli army. There are no soldiers suffering from mental illness or behavioral problems.

The team said that 28% of soldiers smoked at least one cigarette a day, 3% each but now quit, 68% have never smoked.

After the soldiers did the IQ test, the experts found that the average score of the smoking group was lower than 94, lower than the score of 101 for the non-smoking group. Results remain unchanged even when the research team takes into account other factors, such as social status, education level.

IQ decreases with the number of cigarettes smoked by soldiers. Specifically, those who smoke an average of 5 cigarettes a day have an IQ of 98, while IQ in those who smoke more than one pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes) is 90 per day.

Soldiers should not smoke while taking an intellectual test. Therefore, the research team thinks that it is likely that it will affect the ability of smokers to do.

To solve this problem, experts analyzed scores of people who only started smoking when entering the military. Their average score is 97 - still lower than non-smokers. Thus, not smoking does not affect the ability of the soldiers to test.