Literature Review
My aim is to find out if smoking affects the aerobic performance of performance level college aged males. The reason why I am reviewing the literature is so that I can use abstracts and other sources to help support my findings. In order for the sources to be used in my work they would have to fit the criteria of linking to either 2 of my aims, population, measure or variable. I have found 5 abstracts and 5 other sources to help support my work.
Tchissambou, et al. (2004) studied the effects of smoking and the degree of nicotine dependence effects of smoking and the degree of nicotine dependence. They took 126 smokers aged between 18 and 31 years playing in the football teams of the Congolese first and second divisions who co-operated voluntarily in the study. Their aerobic capacity was determined by Cooper’s running test. Absolute VO2max and that related to body weight were subsequently calculated. The degree of nicotine dependence of each subject was assessed by the Fagerstrom questionnaire. The values of VO2max achieved by the smokers were significantly less than those achieved by the non-smokers. Player who were heavily dependent on nicotine had lower VO2max values than those less dependent. The method used by Tchissambou is the same as the one I’m going to be using as I think it is the best was to test the aerobic capacity of performance level athletes.
Lee, C. L., & Chang, W. D. (2013) studied the effects of cigarette smoking on maximal aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity and heart rate variability among female university students. Twelve smokers and 21 nonsmokers participated in this study. All participants performed an intermittent sprint test (IST) and a 20 m shuttle run test to measure their anaerobic capacity and maximal aerobic capacity. The IST was comprised of 6 × 10-second sprints with a 60-second active recovery between each sprint. Heart rate variability was recorded before and after the IST test. The smokers’ average power declined significantly during sprints 4 to 6. The maximal oxygen uptake of nonsmokers was significantly higher than that of the smokers. They came up with the conclusion that smoking may increase female smokers’ exercise fatigue and decrease their average performance during an IST, while reducing their maximal aerobic capacity. Their results will aid my research because it is backing up the hypothesis I have that is the more you smoke the worse your aerobic fitness is.
Saxena, S., & McBean, D. (2010) studied the effects of smoking on physical fitness parameters in adolescents. A study was carried out on 15 smoking and 15 non-smoking volunteers within the age group of 18–30 years who were recruited from a college campus. The non-smokers formed the control group. All the subjects underwent a maximal treadmill test for the estimation of VO2max. Appropriate statistical tests were performed to study the effects 30 min after smoking a cigarette. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean VO2max value in smokers and non-smokers. Again there was no statistically significant difference in the mean VO2max values before and after smoking a cigarette in the smokers. Therefore this research will aid me with my work as it is backing up my own hypothesis.
Hutchinson, D et al. (1986) Smoking habits in professional football. They researched a study of 1,559 English professional footballers to find out how many where smokers. Cigarette smoking was found to be much lower than the national average. Of those surveyed only 5% admitted to cigarette smoking. Smoking was much lower in First Division Clubs (3.2%), and higher in Fourth Division Clubs (6.9%). They got their results through questionnaires and interviews. The method used by Hutchinson, D et al will help aid my research as I will be using a similar method to conduct the research about how many players smoke in the scope that I am testing.
Flouris, A et al (2008) cardiovascular disease risk in adolescent smokers: evidence of a smoker lifestyle. This study assessed cardiovascular disease risk factors in 119 adolescent smokers, compared to an age-matched sample of non-smokers. Participants were assessed for body mass index (BMI), relative body fat, systolic/diastolic/mean arterial blood pressure, total serum cholesterol, aerobic fitness, family (parents or siblings) smoking habits and history of cardiovascular disease. The results showed that BMI and relative body fat were significantly increased, while aerobic fitness was significantly decreased in smokers. Male smokers further demonstrated increased diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure. Smokers also showed increased prevalence for family smoking habits and cardiovascular disease history. This again proves my hypothesis right as aerobic fitness was show to have decreased in the smokers.
Other sources:
This webpage is helpful as it shows you how to calculate V02 max and I will need to be able to do this to conduct my test because after all the participants in my research project complete the cooper run test I need to take the data they scored and convert it into a V02 max score. To calculate V02 max you have to do the calculation VO2MAX= 22.351 x the distance they run (km) – 11.288. So a player running 2.95km for example would score, 22.351 x 2.95 – 11.288 = 54.65 V02MAX.
http://rugbyiq.com/conditioning/fitness-testing/1899-aerobic-capacity-cooper-test-3km-run-bleep-test
On this webpage it states the importance of cardio vascular endurance for football. This information is useful as after I have completed my tests I could give the results back to the players and along with the information on this webpage it may make the smokers re think their decision to smoke as it decreases their aerobic capacity making them worse footballers. As the nature of movement in football makes it crucial that the players have good aerobic systems so that they are able to continue working at the desired level for the entirety of the match. However throughout the match the player will be required to sprint, jump (etc.) so a good level of anaerobic endurance is also required, so that they can continually carry these motions when required.
http://coachescolleague.com/fitness/cardio-vascular-endurance
This webpage gives information about the importance of aerobic fitness on health in general and how important it is for you to keep good levels of aerobic fitness. It gives facts and figures that are quite shocking therefore it would make everyone want to keep up their aerobic fitness. It also states in general how important aerobic fitness is: very important factor in growth and development during childhood and adolescence. It is also an important factor in the aging process. A high level of aerobic fitness during the growing years indicates good development of the muscles, bones, and cardiorespiratory system. It is more important in this respect than body weight.
http://www.aerobictest.com/AerobicFitnessImportance.htm
On this webpage there is information about how to increase your aerobic capacity after quitting smoking. So the information on this page would be good for players who realize that their smoking is effecting there football performance and want to quit and build up their aerobic fitness. After quitting smoking, engaging in regular physical activity could help you reduce your cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms. However, starting a cardiovascular exercise program at a high intensity right after you quit smoking could be dangerous. To increase your cardiovascular exercise endurance after quitting smoking, begin at a slow pace. The website tells you the do’s and don’ts of training after quitting smoking.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/551728-how-do-i-get-my-cardio-up-fast-if-i-just-stopped-smoking/
On this webpage it explains what causes smokers to be less fit than non-smokers. A decrease in oxygen will reduce your physical endurance, making it more difficult for you not only to do well in sports but also to do everyday things, such as walking up stairs. This decrease in oxygenation causes a smoker’s resting heart rate to be higher than a non-smoker’s, as the heart must work harder to deliver adequate oxygen to the body. So therefore smokers are at a disadvantage when it comes to anything to do with aerobic capacity. Also on the website is other effects of smoking on physical fitness and there is a whole list of things so thus information would make the smoking footballers think twice about having their next cigarette.
The 10 sources are very similar as they all follow the same theme that smoking is bad for you and your aerobic capacity. They all just approach the way go about finding out that its bad for you. Whenever any testing was involved all researches use smokers and non-smokers to get differences. As if they didn’t do this they wouldn’t have any comparison results to be able to show in black and white that smoking is bad for you. Also they would all also use a decent size3 sample of people to test on not just 1 or 2 people; they would use 20+ for fair results. The differences between the sources is the way the researchers went about gathering results, some used questionnaires, others used different types of tests, for example the cooper run for V02 max was used by Tchissambou, et al and the BMI tests where used by Flouris, A et al but both came out with the same results that smoking affects aerobic performance.
The weaknesses of the other sources are that there wasn’t any testing it is mainly just information about my 3 different criteria population, measure and variable. So it was information about what smoking does to your body and how it impacts your health. This information would be good to give to the smoking players as it would most likely make them want to stop smoking or cut down on how much they smoke. The weaknesses with the abstracts are that some weren’t as relevant to the research project I am going to do although there are bits I can take from each one to aid me with my research. I agreed with all the conclusions made by the different researches they all agreed with the same hypothesis I came up with, which is smoking affects the aerobic performance of a person. My research project just looks at the aerobic fitness in performance level footballers so I can use all conclusions made by the researches to help me with my work.
The key question that arises from the literacy review is how much smoking affects your aerobic fitness? This question will link with my research project as I can compare my results between the non-smokers and smokers and work out how much exactly smoking affects the aerobic capacity of a performance level footballer. The hypothesis I expect to find in my results is that the smokers will have a lower V02 max than the non-smokers and have a better cardio vascular fitness that the smokers. This is because in all the sources in have I found this has been the case.
Worthing College Sport and Exercise Science 