Smoking damages lungs:
- you'll experience shortness of breath, coughing, and extra phlegm
- you can't do sports as well as a nonsmoker
- you'll have increased chances of irregular periods
Smoking hurts your physical fitness in terms of performance and endurance - even among young people trained in competitive sports.
Smoking slows down the growth of your lungs and can affect your maximum lung capacity.
A smoker's heart rate is 2 to 3 beats a minute faster than that of a nonsmoker; over a lifetime that's millions of beats
Adolescent smokers are more likely than their nonsmoking peers to experience wheezing and increased frequency and severity of respiratory illnesses.
Smoking is associated with poor overall health and a variety of short-term health problems in young people.
Suggested Interactive Activities:
- Ask girls to list all of the female athletes who smoke.
- Ask a school sports star who doesn't smoke to speak to the girls about why smoking interferes with performance.
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