In addition to general complaints such as shortness of breath and chronic cough, smoking also increases the risk of acute cardiac death during exercise. Briefly, this is a heart attack that you can get at high effort. This risk is particularly present in smokers aged over 35 years. This heart attack is the result of cardiovascular disease, which is caused by affected blood vessels. Affected blood vessels can be obtained by smoking, which can therefore be a principle of a heart attack.

When a smoker trains just as hard as a non-smoker, the training for the smoker is a lot less effective. In a smokers body the lungs function is less because the tar that comes out of the cigarette will get attached to the long blades. Now there is talk of reduced oxygen transport. Due to a lack of sufficient oxygen, the heart can function less well, so the blood is circulated less quickly through the body. This means that the athlete who smokes does not last that exercise for long and the smoker can train less intensively than the non-smoker. Smoking also allows the process of muscle breakdown, so strength training has little effect on muscle building.

If the body of a smoker is not provided with the nicotine need quickly enough, it has an effect on reduced concentration and responsiveness. In a sport where you have to react quicker than your opponents or on a ball that you get played, this is rather inconvenient. This concentration is also important in the way your body moves, when it is reduced, mistakes can be made faster leading to injuries. The healing of injuries also lasts longer within the body of a smoker. This is because smoking causes a reduced circulation, which means that damaged tissue can heal less quickly.

Sports also has the opposite effect on smoking. Sports reduces the need for a cigarette. When you exercise, you are also more consciously engaged in a healthy lifestyle, this also makes you aware of the fact what smoking does to your body. You may want to stop smoking. Quitting smoking is often accompanied by some additional complaints such as; stress, sleep disturbance and constipation. Sports can alleviate these complaints. Fortunately, these complaints are often temporary and it takes 7 to 10 years before the lungs are reasonably clean again.

Therefore, it is possible to exercise once again optimally after you have stopped smoking. This means that you get more air, fitness and a better response capacity.