Life Shortening Consumables
It is clear that smoking, drinking, and other enjoyable (and hazardous) activities can/will shorten your life, even if very minor.
Do you personally prefer treating your body however you wish, and most-likely dying a shorter natural life, or would you prefer a longer lifespan?
I for one think that after you hit age 60~70, your life-quality decreases by a very large amount, making it not that enjoyable to life, so I think that it doesn't matter what i smoke/drink etc. How do you feel?
October 25, 2012
31 Comments • Newest first
lol at people loling at other people's comments
[quote=TrueAtheist]@WontPostMuch There's really no such thing as a 'neutral' state though. Everyone is different, the human brain is too complex to generalize a state as being neutral.
Pleasure is dopamine, it's the chemical responsible for all of our sensations of pleasure. The reason we want to have companionship, the reason we don't starve ourselves and have desires to satisfy our hunger/thirst is because of dopamine.
Nicotine activates dopamine receptors in the same way it does for everything else that people need/want/find-rewarding. Even if we don't need nicotine, people who are addicted to it their body thinks they need it and can't tell the difference.[/quote]
Right, but there's a distinction between smoking to get a buzz and smoking to avoid withdrawal effects. Yes, dopamine is still released but it's effects are vastly different depending on brain composition. Nicotine use pretty much alters the way your brain functions and reacts to things.
@WontPostMuch There's really no such thing as a 'neutral' state though. Everyone is different, the human brain is too complex to generalize a state as being neutral.
Pleasure is dopamine, it's the chemical responsible for all of our sensations of pleasure. The reason we want to have companionship, the reason we don't starve ourselves and have desires to satisfy our hunger/thirst is because of dopamine.
Nicotine activates dopamine receptors in the same way it does for everything else that people need/want/find-rewarding. Even if we don't need nicotine, people who are addicted to it their body thinks they need it and can't tell the difference.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070518142512.htm
[quote=TrueAtheist]Where did I say it was fun? I said it brings pleasure to the user, and it does. Going through nicotine withdrawal and then getting your fix is a form of pleasure. I think you're taking the term 'pleasure' more strictly while I'm using it more 'loosely'.
Caffeine for example, if you don't get your cup of coffee in the morning and then the next morning you get it, that's pleasurable, even though what you're feeling is just the craving for caffeine, same thing with nicotine almost.
And I smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for 4 years before I quit so my personal testimony isn't irrelevant either.[/quote]
That's not really "pleasure" at all. I guess I can see how you could define it as such but I don't think inducing yourself an addiction that can only be satiated by one thing and at which point it merely restores your brain-state to "normal" is really pleasurable. It's like staying up really late and then going to bed. Sure, when you actually do fall asleep it's pleasurable but it's not really what we're going for when we say we want pleasure at all, given all the troubles it produces.
@ShakaBrah:
I think more of it as going to a "satisfied" state than anything else. Pleasure in my view is going beyond a neutral state. Especially if your low state is self-induced and the result of some addiction.
[quote=WontPostMuch]That's not how nicotine addiction works man. After a certain point, your brain will accommodate itself for nicotine entering the system and if it's deprived of it, you will suffer from withdrawals. At that point, smoking a cig will merely restore your brain-state to what would be normal if you weren't addicted to nicotine. Not to mention, the pain it will inflict on your lungs and throat is far from "fun."
I suggest you actually experience smoking or, better yet, read research on the effects of nicotine before making lulzy claims like smoking a pack a day is "fun" for the user.[/quote]
Where did I say it was fun? I said it brings pleasure to the user, and it does. Going through nicotine withdrawal and then getting your fix is a form of pleasure. I think you're taking the term 'pleasure' more strictly while I'm using it more 'loosely'.
Caffeine for example, if you don't get your cup of coffee in the morning and then the next morning you get it, that's pleasurable, even though what you're feeling is just the craving for caffeine, same thing with nicotine almost.
And I smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for 4 years before I quit so my personal testimony isn't irrelevant either.
EDIT: Do you know what dopamine is? What it's purpose is? And the effects nicotine has on dopamine pathways?
[quote=TrueAtheist]They do get pleasure from it, hence why they continue to do it and why they are addicted. The entire reason nicotine is addictive is because it stimulates the reward-center of your brain.[/quote]
That's not how nicotine addiction works man. After a certain point, your brain will accommodate itself for nicotine entering the system and if it's deprived of it, you will suffer from withdrawals. At that point, smoking a cig will merely restore your brain-state to what would be normal if you weren't addicted to nicotine. Not to mention, the pain it will inflict on your lungs and throat is far from "fun."
I suggest you actually experience smoking or, better yet, read research on the effects of nicotine before making lulzy claims like smoking a pack a day is "fun" for the user.
[quote=WontPostMuch]Well given that I drink and smoke, along with combining drugs in a reckless and unhealthy manner I can only say that I do not value a "long natural life" at all. Can't really imagine living to, say, 80 years old without ever experiencing anything like alcohol. Seems really boring.
@TrueAtheist:
I doubt a chronic smoker gets any pleasure at all from smoking cigs their whole life. It just messes up your lungs pretty bad and after a while you get so used to nicotine you don't even get a buzz. You just decrease the quality of your life and quite frankly, smoking a pack a day on the daily is really gross.[/quote]
They do get pleasure from it, hence why they continue to do it and why they are addicted. The entire reason nicotine is addictive is because it stimulates the reward-center of your brain.
[quote=gladiator]
@Matterizer I meant against religion laws not the government laws[/quote]
Sorry bro, but not everyone follows a religion, so your argument is invalid.
about smoking.
When people smoke, the smoke tends to float towards people who don't smoke. I don't why this is but its a fact. So its kind hard to just ignore it. in Illinois at least where I live, you can not smoke in public places. I don't care about what you do in your own private space. I just don't want the smoke to float over to me.
[quote=gladiator]
Edit2: @Matterizer You don't buy drugs from the grocery do you?[/quote]
You're avoiding my question.
How is smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol breaking most laws?
Lol it's hilarious how people who don't drink or smoke or use drugs consider people who do inferior to them.
For all you know they could be 10x a better person than you.
@Galdiator I said they 'could' be 10x better than you.
I for one, know plenty of people who smoke and don't smoke, drink and don't drink, those who do drugs and those who don't, and they're actually all good and bad.
There are plenty of substance users that are better than non-users, but at the same time non-users better than users.
And could you explain how smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol is against the law?
i can still die in an accident
with very short life
so i unno
On a daily basis I tend to place my testicles in a microwave while I smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink moonshiners. It's a fetish thing.
Implying that your life will suck if you never use drugs.
Well given that I drink and smoke, along with combining drugs in a reckless and unhealthy manner I can only say that I do not value a "long natural life" at all. Can't really imagine living to, say, 80 years old without ever experiencing anything like alcohol. Seems really boring.
@TrueAtheist:
I doubt a chronic smoker gets any pleasure at all from smoking cigs their whole life. It just messes up your lungs pretty bad and after a while you get so used to nicotine you don't even get a buzz. You just decrease the quality of your life and quite frankly, smoking a pack a day on the daily is really gross.
Can't say for smoking since they put in so much crap in a cig.
But drinking on the other hand is good in moderation. The acidity of wine for example is high enough to kill a good amount of bacteria (at least in the drink) and red wines can help with heart disease prevention. Beer might be able to do it too, I don't know. But moderation is key.
@prosecuted: Trash ppl should be treated like that, as for the unsuccesfull ones thats kinda subjetive, as not everyone is good at math, but that doesnt make them less than the ones who do understand it, they are just better fit for other jobs.
@sl3athOwl: Of course im above him, whoever he is.
I don't see the fun in smoking so I don't do it but I probably wouldn't want to live too long (past 100).
@Boss: Well yes that is correct, i was mainly referring to the use of items that produce some sort of bodily harm, yet create a large amount of joy/happiness.
The average chronic pack-a-day smoker who smokes for 20+ years will live on average 7 years shorter than someone who doesn't.
So that means instead of living to their late 70's early 80's, they'll live to their late 60's or early 70's most of the time.
In my opinion it's not that significant.. when you're that age there's not much to do anyways, a lifetime of smoking probably gave them more pleasure than 7 years of being old and miserable.
I'm not really sure what the studies say about alcohol and shortening your lifespan, I don't think it drastically shortens it unless you're binge drinking every day..
Also - I'd like to add that the people who look down on people who smoke, drink, or do drugs and act all health-conscious probably don't eat a perfectly healthy organic diet and probably don't exercise every day.
Not eating healthy and not exercising both shorten your lifespan as well. So if you're going to sit there on your computer playing video games and eating McDonalds all day and then tell someone they're stupid for smoking you're nothing but a hypocrite.
[quote=prosecuted]Well. I'm more of referring to simple things, such as getting wasted often, or smoking a pack a day etc. And if thats what you enjoy, and you aren't hurting anyone else, then i say go ahead. Better to live a happy 30 years than a miserable 80.[/quote]
Yeah, but the important thing is your take on how to live your life. Not everyone benefits from drinking or smoking, y'know?
[quote=BigDivide]He basically said in a non-deutchbaggy way.[/quote]
Most life related quotes are pretty much YOLO, but said it a better way.
[quote=abgl015]Personally i treat ppl who do drugs and smoke as inferiors to me as its proven that those activities provide nothing good, sure you may say that it helps in relaxation and meditation, but if you cant achieve those states naturally it only means that you are a failure of evolution.
As for people who use weed (medical one only) and drink in moderation, there are real benefits from it.[/quote]
I'm sure you are miles above Sean Parker, his 2 billion, and his cocaine.
Day this second, die tomorrow, die in 10 years, die in 40. It makes no difference for me.
I only live because I was given this life by fate. Hopefully, my next life will be better. ;p
I would have tried smoking by now... I just don't want to get arrested for doing stupid things in my youth. e_e
[quote=abgl015]Personally i treat ppl who do drugs and smoke as inferiors to me as its proven that those activities provide nothing good, sure you may say that it helps in relaxation and meditation, but if you cant achieve those states naturally it only means that you are a failure of evolution.
As for people who use weed (medical one only) and drink in moderation, there are real benefits from it.[/quote]
The only people you should treat lesser than you are the ones who aren't as successful, or are trash (i.e. Lil wayne is more successful, but is trash).
It also depends on their outlook on life, I'm not saying to go be a complete waste of money and be a burden to society, which may be what you think i mean.
Personally i treat ppl who do drugs and smoke as inferiors to me as its proven that those activities provide nothing good, sure you may say that it helps in relaxation and meditation, but if you cant achieve those states naturally it only means that you are a failure of evolution.
As for people who use weed (medical one only) and drink in moderation, there are real benefits from it.
People avoid risks in life to make it safely to death.
[quote=Boss]Well, there's an obvious balance you wanna reach, right? If my philosophy in life was to be high on cocaine 24/7 and OD at 29, then yeah...
However, people who don't drink or smoke or do drugs, or even party, should not be patting themselves on the back; perhaps there's a reason you face no pressure.
In life you want to maximize happiness, and compromising your well-being for the sake of fun (which will have a very steep drop off after a certain point) is stupid.[/quote]
Well. I'm more of referring to simple things, such as getting wasted often, or smoking a pack a day etc. And if thats what you enjoy, and you aren't hurting anyone else, then i say go ahead. Better to live a happy 30 years than a miserable 80.
[quote=SwordArtOnlineB]@GreenPen
Words to live by.[/quote]
He basically said in a non-deutchbaggy way.
Well, there's an obvious balance you wanna reach, right? If my philosophy in life was to be high on cocaine 24/7 and OD at 29, then yeah...
However, people who don't drink or smoke or do drugs, or even party, should not be patting themselves on the back; perhaps there's a reason you face no pressure.
In life you want to maximize happiness, and compromising your well-being for the sake of fun (which will have a very steep drop off after a certain point) is stupid.
It doesn't matter if you live long
It matters what you do in those days