A heart surgeon has assessed various ‘unhealthy habits’, scoring them out of 10 to highlight the impact of behaviors like drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana on your health.
Smoking marijuana regularly is associated with several health issues. According to the Cleveland Clinic, while researchers are still learning about the long-term effects, using marijuana in young adulthood may impair brain functions such as attention, memory, and learning.
Smoking marijuana can also negatively impact lung health, increasing the risk of bronchitis and causing scarring in small blood vessels. Additionally, it raises the likelihood of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular conditions, and it has been linked to a higher chance of developing schizophrenia.
Heart surgeon @drjeremylondon discussed the health risks of marijuana in a TikTok video.
In the video, Jeremy’s son asks: “Dad, as a heart surgeon, how bad are these things for you on a scale of 1-10?”
Regarding marijuana, Dr. Jeremy responds: “I’ll give that one an eight. The recent data has shown an increased risk of cardiovascular disease with chronic marijuana use.
“The problem is people say it’s natural so it must be safe, not the case.”
Dr. Jeremy also evaluated alcohol, giving it a 10/10 rating, and stated: “Alcohol is toxic to every cell in the body.
“There is really no amount of alcohol that is truly safe.”
Cancer Research UK notes that alcohol consumption raises cancer risk.
They say: “When we drink alcohol, our bodies turn it into a chemical, called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde can damage our cells and can also stop cells from repairing this damage.”
According to them, alcohol consumption is linked to seven types of cancer.
Dr. Jeremy also shared his perspective on processed meats and plastic cutting boards, rating processed meats a five out of 10 and plastic chopping boards the same.
“Using plastic cutting boards regularly over the course of a year, you can ingest up to almost 50g of microplastics, that’s the same as 10 credit cards,” he mentioned.
“There’s been a trend in the data to show that this can affect fertility, endocrine function and maybe even cardiovascular health.”
He suggested opting for wooden chopping boards as a healthier alternative to plastic.