It’s not so smoking hot.
Earlier this year, The Post reported — with great horror — that Hollywood has made smoking “cool” again, despite all the very real health risks.
But being a “cool” social smoker outside a bar with a cigarette between your fingers, it seems, is not the same as being a social butterfly.
According to new research presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Barcelona, smoking actually leads to increased loneliness.
Previous studies have suggested loneliness leads to an uptake of smoking, but little research had been conducted looking into the opposite effect.
Analyzing data from over 50,000 people who participated in the “Survey of Health and Ageing [sic]” in Europe, researchers measured how lonely smokers and non-smokers felt. For the purposes of the study, loneliness including feeling isolated and a lack of companionship.
No matter the age or gender, current smokers were found to be lonelier than non-smokers.
Worse still? Smokers also experienced larger increases in loneliness over time.
One theory as to why this is the case is age:=, The average age of research participants being 67.
“Smoking is associated with increasing loneliness in older people, suggesting smoking may damage psychosocial health in addition to physical effects,” Dr Keir Philip, who presented the research, said.
Smoking bans and limits on areas where people can smoke can also limit people’s ability to convene with others and participate in social activities.
Unrelated studies have also found that being alone and unhappy could be detrimental to health, and potentially worse than smoking by speeding up the aging process.
The World Health Organization has even dubbed loneliness a “pressing health threat,” with the risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
A 2023 study from the University of Glasgow in Scotland found that not socializing with friends or family may increase the risk of dying early by 39%.
And being on your own also carries the risk of anxiety, depression, poor immune function, cardiovascular issues, and even brain shrinkage.
Even if you step out for a cigarette break with others, older research has found that social smoking carries a higher risk of high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Experts believe the initial study’s findings are crucial information for trying to get smokers to quit, especially as the health risks of loneliness are well-documented.
“From individual to policy level, these findings demonstrate that, as well as damaging physical health, smoking appears to damage aspects of psychosocial health,” Professor Des Cox, a member of the European Respiratory Society’s Advocacy Council who was not involved with the research, said.
“The idea that smoking might be ‘social’ should be challenged, as the evidence indicates the opposite.”
