We all know that smoking is bad for you. It turns out that smoking is also bad for your housemates. A new study showed that living with a smoker has the same effect as living in a polluted city.
If you don't smoke but live with a smoker, this new study suggests that moving out to a smoke-free home could have major benefits for your health. People living in a house with a smoker are subject to three times the amount of pollutants that are considered safe by the EPA and WHO. This study drives home the importance of preventing exposure to second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke has been linked to respiratory conditions such as asthma, and heart disease.
The research paper was published online in the BMJ's Tobacco Control .
The research study took place in Scotland. Researchers studied the concentrations of particles in the homes of smokers and non-smokers. The researchers found that the levels of harmful particles in the homes of smokers was much higher than in the homes of non-smokers. The researchers then combined this information with studies about the breathing rates of different age groups to estimate how much of the second-hand smoke was inhaled on average. Measurements were taken of the PPM over the course of 24 hours.
Not every home studied had heavy smokers. The researchers found that in houses where inhabitants smoked a lot, non-smokers inhaled up to 11 times the amount of second-hand smoke considered safe by the WHO.
"These measurements show that second-hand tobacco smoke can produce very high levels of toxic particles in your home: much higher than anything experienced outside in most towns and cities in the UK. Making your home smoke-free is the most effective way of dramatically reducing the amount of damaging fine particles you inhale," said Dr. Sean Semple, lead author of the study. Semple works at the University of Aberdeen in the UK.
Dr. Semple suggested that smokers take to smoking outside of their homes instead of inside to minimize exposure to second-hand smoke. He said that this study suggests that smoking inside of your home is much worse than air pollution, even in the most polluted cities.
