Originally Posted by
austinite
Again, this is no secret. Smoking is bad for you. The fact of the matter is, nicotine in moderation is not bad for you. What's mostly disastrous for your health tobacco and the paper wrapped around that cigarette. You're burning a piece paper and inhaling it into your lungs. That's a huge culprit. Imagine this... Sit in a room with no windows, set a stack of paper on fire and breathe it. That's what you're doing to yourself. Nicotine is simply addictive and like anything else, beyond moderation is not advised.
Increased Hematocrit Levels are one of the concerns with smoking, even off cycle. Smoking is a big player in your hematocrit levels. This is because your body is becoming starved for oxygen. Increased hematocrit means your blood is becoming thicker. This also happens in folks that live in high altitude locations. Same reason, not enough oxygen.
Oxygen Deprivation can affect your results because we already know that AAS leads to blood thickening. Double whammy. Let me rephrase that, it will absolutely without a doubt affect your results negatively. If your body is deprived of oxygen, this means your muscles are, too. Oxygen is a nutrient for muscles and is required for proper stimulation. No matter how good you think your progress is or how good you think you feel, you can do MUCH better with adequate oxygen in your system.
Protein Synthesis is affected by cigarette toxicity. This has been studied and proven. Non smokers have a higher basal rate when it comes to protein synthesis in the muscle. Furthermore; myostatin is elevated in smokers.
Cardiovascular System is weakened by smoking. The lack of oxygen for one, will crush your endurance levels. Both the heart and lungs need oxygen to perform any strenuous activity without collapsing too soon. Cigarettes carry 1000's of chemicals that cause lots of destruction to alveoli, these are air pockets that provide the lungs with elasticity and the ability to absorb more oxygen, all of which is hindered in smokers. That certainly will affect your progress.
The biggest concern is Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). This is where your blood becomes thick, which both cigarettes and steroids will cause, but cigarettes can also thicken the lining of vessels, making blood flow rough, even if your hematocrit levels seem normal. The result could DVT, which is a clot in a vessel. This could result in many complications, some very serious such as a heart attack. DVT requires surgery in most cases.
The liver does a decent job filtering toxins, however, there are three chemicals found in cigarettes that give the liver hell. Those are N-Nitrosodiethylamine, N-Nitrosopyrrolidine and Arsenic. All of these chemicals have been studied and proven to cause tumors and cancer in the liver. So while you're smoking, you're stressing your liver out by attempting to clean up the mess, and then introducing steroids to hit it with another... "Double Whammy".
Smoking is far more riskier than consuming alcohol. Unfortunately, many drinkers are also smokers. So the combination those two when coupled with oral steroids is a surefire way to cause issues for you now, or in the future.
In Closing, moderation is key with everything we do, even the harmful things. So please keep that in mind. You can still enjoy your life, but enjoy life while respecting your body. Your internal organs and circulatory system is working at a mind-boggling pace and conducting things most people couldn't fathom, all for the purpose of keeping you alive. You owe it to your body to treat it a little better. It's kept you alive this long, but it just might give up on you sooner than you'd like.
Have a powerful day,
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