How Does Smoking Affect the Muscular System?

Video Transcript

"Hello. I am Dr. Davis Burns. I am a professor emeritus at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Cigarette smoking affects the muscular systems of the body by decreasing the capacity of those muscles to exercise at maximum. One of the things that happens when you inhale cigarette smoke is you inhale carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide blocks the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. Oxygen is very necessary for the muscles to function at peak capacity. So, one of the things that happens when you smoke is your maximum ability to exercise is actually decreased by being a cigarette smoker. The principle cause of that decrease is the diminished ability to carry oxygen at maximum to those muscles."