DIVING AND SMOKING

I know what you are thinking now: all diving professionals are smokers...

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Some weeks ago, sitting in a restaurant with friends, I was listening to a discussion about how smoking impacts the human physiology with particular focus on diving activity. They all obviously agreed that smoking is bad and must be avoided in general, but nobody really was in the condition of explaining why divers in particular shall not smoke and what are the consequences of smoking in combination with diving.

I am not a physician myself so I am not going to arrange a self made text with the risk of sharing incorrect contents. By the way, I found this two articles on the website of DAN Asia Pacific (www.danap.org), which I think can give us a good and brief basic scientific overview about the consequences of smoking and diving (click on the title to read the full article):

• Caution first: why smoking and diving don’t mix, by Dr. Jim Caruso

• Smoking and Diving: do the two make a risk factor for decompression illness?, by Dr. David Buch

So if we really can not resist and keep smoking also after reading this articles, please try to follow some simple rules at least:

1. on the boat, smoke only in designated smoking areas;
2. smoke down-wind;
3. dispose properly of cigarette butts.

I am happy to read other scientific information or documentation, if you have any to share!