Mental health and smoking – a guide for men

This Men’s Mental Health Month, we take a look at how smoking can affect men’s state of mind.

Smoking has a devastating effect on the mental and physical health of men across the UK. In Wales, where smoking prevalence is highest among men,  smoking remains the highest cause of avoidable early death in men.

As well as having a devastating impact on men’s health, smoking also affects their state of mind. This is partly due to the health anxiety linked to an addiction that is the leading cause of lung cancer and of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).  Every cigarette smoked contains thousands of chemicals, many of which cause cancer.  And for every 15 cigarettes a person smokes, a mutation will occur in their body’s cells that could lead to cancer.

Healthcare

For men there are specific health conditions that can be caused or exacerbated by smoking.  Smoking is a major cause of low sperm count and impotence and it affects the flow of blood to the penis.  An Australian study carried out by researchers from Imperial College London in 2006 found that men who smoke a pack or more of cigarettes daily are nearly 40% more likely to be impotent than non-smokers. Meanwhile even smoking less than 20 cigarettes a day was found to increase the risk of impotence by 24%. It can also be linked to prostate cancer, with research by Prostate Cancer UK showing that smoking can make prostate cancer more likely to grow and spread around the body.

Although many smokers say they smoke to alleviate feelings of anxiety in stressful situations, smoking and more specifically nicotine withdrawal can be a major source of anxiety in itself. The jittery anxious feeling you get when you crave a cigarette is a symptom of nicotine withdrawal. Smokers start to feel calm again as soon as they take their first drag as nicotine floods into their system reaching the brain within just ten seconds. That feeling is short lived however, and it won’t be long before the smoker start to feel anxious, jittery and tense again as the cycle of withdrawal and cravings begins again.

The more smokers feed the addiction , the more intense their cravings will become over time as the brain demands more nicotine. These withdrawal symptoms and cigarette cravings trigger anxiety symptoms which can only be relieved by smoking a cigarette.

Worries over finances are one of the biggest causes of stress and sleepless nights with a survey by the Money Advice Service in 2018 revealing that nearly two thirds of Britons were concerned that money worries had affected the mental health of somebody they know. The burden of having to fund a costly addiction like smoking can greatly exacerbate these worries. A 20-a-day smoker will spend on average £72 a week on cigarettes. That’s £312 a month and a whopping £3796 a year. Meanwhile smoking 10 cigarettes a day will cost £156 a month and £1898 a year – that’s a lot of extra cash to find. And if you smoke rollies, your habit won’t come cheap either with the cost of smoking 20 rollies a day at £1921 a year.  For those smokers that do quit the habit, a huge financial burden is lifted, playing a big role in improving mental health.

While there’s no doubt that smoking takes it toll on mental health, the good news is that quitting the habit brings big rewards. According to the NHS those that give up experience improved mental health and lower rates of depression and anxiety.  In Wales free stop smoking help and support is available from the NHS Wales Help Me Quit.

Visit the website or call the helpline today to begin your journey to better mental health.