Smoking Is Dumb: Young Men Who Smoke Have Lower IQs, Study Finds

[FarCenter]

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2010) — "Only dopes use dope," goes the memorable warning about drugs. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher cautions that the same goes for cigarettes.

A study led by Prof. Mark Weiser of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychiatry and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital has determined that young men who smoke are likely to have lower IQs than their non-smoking peers. Tracking 18- to 21-year-old men enlisted in the Israeli army in the largest ever study of its kind, he has been able to demonstrate an important connection between the number of cigarettes young males smoke and their IQ.

The average IQ for a non-smoker was about 101, while the smokers' average was more than seven IQ points lower at about 94, the study determined. The IQs of young men who smoked more than a pack a day were lower still, at about 90. An IQ score in a healthy population of such young men, with no mental disorders, falls within the range of 84 to 116.

...

"In the health profession, we've generally thought that smokers are most likely the kind of people to have grown up in difficult neighborhoods, or who've been given less education at good schools," says Prof. Weiser, whose study was reported in a recent version of the journal Addiction. "But because our study included subjects with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, we've been able to rule out socio-economics as a major factor. The government might want to rethink how it allocates its educational resources on smoking."


<SNIP>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100401151746.htm

[Ian David]

1. Cigarettes contain electrolytes. Plants crave it. n/t

[Dr.Phool]

4. We're vegetables?

[hughee99]

27. The Brawndo CEO would agree. n/t

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Correlation is not causation. Smoking cigarettes doesn't make one stupid.

I think the link IS the stupidity.
Stupid people have low IQs. Stupid people deliberately poison their bodies - acting on impulse and lacking foresight.

I didn't even need an expensive grant to figure that one out... :D

[Deep13]

5. agreed. nt

[Oregone]

7. No, but being stupid may make one smoke

:)

[backscatter712]

8. Touche! n/t

[Warpy]

20. However, there was a study about 10 years ago

that did cognitive testing among deprived smokers, satisfied smokers, and non smokers. It found the highest scores among nonsmokers and the lowest among deprived smokers, as they expected.

What they didn't expect to find what that the satisfied smokers had scores that were nearly as low as the deprived smokers, although they were improved somewhat.

Nicotine gives smokers the illusion of mental clarity. It doesn't actually do it, much the way alcohol doesn't actually make a drinker better looking and more articulate.

[L0oniX]

3. ø

:popcorn:

[Soylent Brice]

6. i just ran out. hold my seat...

[leftstreet]

18. There's a new breastfeeding thread, too. What to do, what to do

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[mainer]

9. but the twin study is interesting. Smoking twin: lower IQ

Similar genes, same socioeconomic background. Yet the twin who smokes has lower IQ.

[bamacrat]

10. Smoking is a dumb act not all who smoke are dumb, I smoke and my IQ is 131 but...

I am a bit lazy and have an addictive personality so... I didn't start smoking until I was 21 and in college so maybe that statistic doesnt apply to me.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. I've known geniuses who smoked. Does this mean they would have had higher IQs if they hadn't?

BTW One had an IQ of 185.

[Hannah Bell]

12. bullshit science.

[MineralMan]

13. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Everyone sing along:

to the tune of Camptown Ladies...

Do dah.

[Kalyke]

14. What's dumb is continuing to believe smoking is the ONLY cause for

many of the ailments assigned to it.

Even the World Health Organization admits that while smoking is down, lung cancer is up; therefore, ailments of this nature are caused by a wide variety of toxins and toxic-lifestyles (pollution, little exercise, overeating, stress, etc.).

[Romulox]

15. Class bias is obviously a major factor in the "objective" sciences...

Wonder what the correlation between poverty, smoking, and so-called "low iq" is? :shrug:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Smoking is about as dumb as it gets

Yet the government subsidizes it and protects tobacco exports. That needs to stop. Cut it loose and let it die a commercial death

The only real issue will be the loss of sin taxes that some were so foolish as to use to fund non-smoking related programs

[Arugula Latte]

17. Big surprise. nt

[jody]

19. So does smoking cause low IQ or low IQ cause smoking? n/t

[FarCenter]

22. The conclusion of the study is that persons with low IQ tend to make bad health choices

So a possible policy implication is that progams to reduce the number of people who start smoking should target low IQ youngsters.

I suppose that the media could portray smoking as associated with preppy kids and conformist in general.

[jody]

23. I would enjoy a study that concluded smoking marijuana led to the Oval Office. n/t

[LanternWaste]

21. Just compared this to the "lower IQ means more religion" thread from two weeks ago.

Just compared this to the "lower IQ means more religion" thread from two weeks ago. Odd contrasts in justifications for both the acceptance and the denial of the conclusions... :P

[blueworld]

24. Do they realize all the greatest minds of the 20th century were smokers? LOL. n/t

[Johonny]

25. If IQ was anything more than a product of linear algebra

that might be more interesting. IQ what a myth.

[Odin2005]

26. It's the other way around, people with low IQs start smoking.

Most smokers I know that are under 30 are not the smartest knives in the drawer. While at the same time I know very few intelligent people under the age of 30 that smoke.

[BreweryYardRat]

28. I got 1500/1600 on my SATs, and yet, I smoke.

I'm a college student and I need the little extra bit of energy nicotine gives me. I'll try to quit after graduating.

[Toasterlad]

29. I Smoked For Almost 20 Years, And I'm a Super Genius.