People, who smoke occasionally (for example, only on weekends) and believe that a few cigarettes a week will not cause harm, bring the same damage to their brain as heavy smokers.
The scientists from the University of Northumbria have tested the smokers, who smoked about 20 cigarettes per week (1 or 2 times a week, mostly on weekends), and those, who smoked 10-15 cigarettes a day, and compared their data with non-smokers.
The participants of the testing were shown a video, where the main street of the town on a weekday became the “main character”. Then they were asked to recall a number of predefined actions carried out in certain places, or the text that the character of the video addressed to his friend, while passing by the store.
The two groups of smokers had somewhat worse results with memorizing events and texts, if to compare them with nonsmokers. Dr. Tom Heffernan, the psychologist, who supervised the study (the first of its kind), said that smoking could be associated with the decreased memory function and the increase in the rate of brain degeneration, such as reduction of its volume. Thus, the scientist explains that it makes no considerable difference, whether you are an avid smoker, or smoke only occasionally. In any case, smoking is harmful to your memory.
