Smokers Have a Poorer IQ than Non- Smokers
Persons who are smokers have a lower IQ than those who are non smokers. If a person has smoked for a long period of time then their IQ is getting lower, a study says who analyzed 20,000 Israeli military recruits. Dr. Mark Weiser and his colleagues from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer have discovered the fact that the persons who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day or more have IQ scores 7.5 points lower than non-smokers.
The same researchers have concluded the fact that persons with poorer IQ can be used in anti smoking programs and to prevent smoking. Weiser and his team have noted that there is a big link between lower IQ and smoking. Many intelligence studies were made on children; they have also included persons with behavioral problems and mental problems. These persons are more likely to smoke and have a lower IQ.
To understand better the relationship between IQ and smoking the researchers have looked and studied at 20,211 18-year-old men recruited into the Israeli military. That group didn’t include persons with mental problems because these persons are disqualified from military service.
According to the researchers almost 3% said they were ex-smokers, 28% of the study participants smoked at least one cigarette a day and 68% had never smoked. For those persons who smoked the intelligence test showed lower results in comparison with those who didn’t smoke.
The average IQ for non smokers was 94; those were persons who started to smoke before becoming a military. But for non smokers the IQ was almost 101, which represents a good difference. IQ is dropping if the person continues to smoke more and more cigarettes. There is a real example with the IQ score, people who smoked one to five cigarettes daily have 98 points but those who smoked more than a pack a day have 90.
This shows an interesting bond between how many cigarettes smokers smoke and their IQ. IQ scores from 84 to 116 are considered to show average intelligence.
Recruits are not allowed to smoke during the administration of intelligence tests, because there is a possibly that the scores be affected by cigarette smoking. For better results they have analyzed the IQ scores when men were 18 and non smokers with results when they became smokers during military service. These men also scored lower than never-smokers, 97 points, on average.
The same researchers have compared IQs for 70 pairs of brothers in the group in which one brother smoked and the other didn’t. Once again it was demonstrated that, average IQs for the non-smoking sibling were higher than for the smokers. The tests have shown that lower IQ individuals are more likely to take the decision to smoke rather than that smoking makes people less intelligent.