A recent study warns: daily smoking reduces the size of the brain

The results of a recent scientific study conducted on more than 28,000 people in the United Kingdom showed that daily cigarette smoking reduces brain volume.

The study indicated, according to the “Live Science” website, that after imaging the brains of the study participants and analyzing their genetic and health data; The scientists found that compared to people who never smoked daily, participants who smoked on a daily basis sometime before their brains were scanned had brain volumes that were 0.4 cubic inches smaller, on average.

She noted that this decrease in brain volume was in the gray matter, which contains the bulky bodies of brain cells, or neurons, and that at some point in the past it was also associated with a decrease of 0.1 cubic inch in the brain’s white matter.

It showed that heavy smokers showed greater differences in gray matter volume; As it was noted that those who smoke one pack per day for a year; They experienced a decrease of 0.01 cubic inch, while the white matter was not significantly affected.

The results revealed that people who had quit smoking for a longer period had slightly more gray matter in their brains, compared to those who had quit smoking recently. Which means that stopping smoking can slightly affect the size of the brain.