[ad_1]
According to one study, smoking 20 cigarettes a day or more can affect your vision and your ability to see colors.
Smokers appear to have more difficulty distinguishing contrasts and shadows from non-smokers, as well as their reduced ability to differentiate colors.
The findings complement the research that the risk of age-related macular degeneration, a common condition that affects vision over time, is doubled in smokers.
Researchers are unsure of the damage but believe that the chemicals in cigarettes could damage the blood vessels and nerve cells in the eyes.
Smoking 20 cigarettes a day or more can affect vision and ability to see colors, study says (stock image)
The study, led by Rutgers University of New Jersey, involved 134 healthy people aged 25 to 45 years old.
All participants had normal or corrected vision according to the normal view test charts.
A group of 71 people had smoked less than 15 cigarettes in their lifetime, while 63 of them smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day at the time.
Researchers examined how well participants could see contrast levels (subtle differences in shading) and colors sitting in front of a screen.
The eyes of both people were watched simultaneously, and scientists found that heavy smokers did not see as much difference between colors compared to nonsmokers.
There were also significant changes in the vision of the red-green and blue-yellow colors of smokers.
The most common form of color deficiency is red-green, which affects about one in 12 men and one in 200 women, according to the NHS.
In rare cases, some people have problems with blues, greens and yellows, the so-called blue-yellow color vision deficit.
In the majority of cases, color problems are genetic.
But a disease or injury to the optic nerve or retina may also result in loss of color recognition, including diabetes, glaucoma, or sickle cell disease.
Scientists already know that exposure to harmful chemicals, such as carbon disulfide and styrene, can alter color vision. Both are in cigarette smoke.
The research focused on smoking, age-related macular degeneration, retinal ischemia, and other eye problems.
But few studies have established a connection between habit and color vision.
The results, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, suggest that the consumption of neurotoxic chemicals, such as those contained in cigarettes, could contribute to loss of color vision.
Dr. Steven Silverstein, co-author and director of research at Behavioral Health Care at Rutgers University, said, "Cigarette smoke is made up of many compounds harmful to health.
"And it has been associated with a reduction in the thickness of the layers in the brain and in brain lesions, involving areas such as the frontal lobe, which plays a role in voluntary movement and control of thought, and a decrease in activity in the brain. " area of the brain that processes vision.
"Previous studies have shown that long-term smoking doubles the risk of age-related macular degeneration and is a factor in yellowing and inflammation of the lenses.
"Our results indicate that excessive use of cigarettes or chronic exposure to their compounds affect visual discrimination, which reinforces the existence of overall deficits in the visual treatment of tobacco addiction."
The research did not give detailed explanations of the results, but Dr. Silverstein said that nicotine and smoking could damage the blood vessels of the eyes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently estimates that 34.3 million American adults smoke cigarettes.
More than 16 million people live with a smoking-related disease, many of which affect the cardiovascular system, and 12 million have a visual impairment.
In the UK, smoking is down, with 17.2% of the population smoking in 2015.
Average cigarette smoking among smokers has been reduced to 11.3 cigarettes per day – the lowest level since 1974.
[ad_2]
Source link