People who work longer smoke more

Do you work for long hours? Check your smoking habits. New research has revealed that people who work longer smoke more. People who work long hours find it harder to quit smoking and those who have given up are more at risk of starting again, according to the researchers from the Loughborough University in Britain.

'When smokers increase their hours above a typical 40-hour working week, the chances they will successfully give up smoking fall. They become progressively less likely to give up as their working hours increase,' explained professor Andy Charlwood from the Loughborough University's School of Business and Economics. (Read: Why it is easier to quit smoking now than ever before)

Former smokers who start working longer hours are also more likely to relapse, he added. To prove this, researchers reviewed the smoking behaviour of more than 20,000 people over a 19-year period. It found a smoker who increases their working week from 40 to 60-plus hours is less than half as likely to quit smoking as someone who stays on a 40-hour week. (Read: World No Tobacco Day 2014: Different ways to quit smoking)

'Even if people like their jobs and choose to work long hours, we tend to experience more stress and less pleasure at work than we do when undertaking most other day-to-day activities,' Charlwood added. Because smokers experience smoking as a pleasurable and stress-relieving activity, the additional stress of working long hours is likely to increase the craving for cigarettes.

The paper appeared in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Here are some things that happen inside your body when you smoke

Your first drag:

1. Whether you light your cigarette using a matchstick or a lighter, the first puff is the most damaging. The smoke emitted from the match and the cigarette form a strong cocktail that can leave the mucous lining in your nose damaged.

2. Apart from that the heat from the cigarette affects the skin on your face and most importantly around your nose and mouth. The heat causes your lips to darken, leads to wrinkles and the appearance of age spots. Another reason for darkening of a smokers lips is the fact that the tar in the cigarette tends to adhere to the lips, soon staining them.

3. Not to mention the constant pouting and sucking that one has to do in order to take a puff also leads to what is known as a smoker's pout. Where when you pout you will see the appearance of fine lines around the lips something that does not happen in non-smokers.

Read more about the 6 most common myths about smoking busted.

What the smoke does to the insides of your mouth:

4. When the smoke is inside your mouth, the tar starts to coat the enamel of your teeth, discolouring them.

5. The heat from the smoke also damages the cells in and around your mouth, and in some cases leading to a change in their DNA causing mutations. Once inside the mouth the tar and other chemicals affect all parts of your oral cavity. Read more about 25 things that happen inside your body when you smoke

With inputs from IANS

Photo source: Getty images

You might also like to read:

• Yogendra Pranayam 1 yoga pose to beat the ill-effects of smoking
• Quit smoking naturally the yoga way to kick the butt
• World No Tobacco Day 2014: How to identify and beat your smoking triggers

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