Smoking First Thing In The Morning Is Killing You

If lighting up is part of your morning routine, you are speeding up the process toward your inevitably dirt nap.

A new study from Penn State reports that:

Smoking a cigarette immediately after waking up may increase your risk of developing lung and oral cancers, regardless of how much you smoke per day.

Researchers found that smokers who light up first thing in the morning have higher levels of NNAL—a substance created when tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK enters the body—in their blood than smokers who wait at least a half hour after waking up.

The doctors involved think that people who have to have a cigarette first thing in the morning are probably more addicted than those who wait.  That may be contributing factor in the increase of negative health effects.

Researchers suggested drinking a glass of milk first thing in the morning to help get rid of the urge to smoke early.  They have found that something about milk makes cigarettes taste bad so people would actually be turned away from the urge.