Shaking Smokers Up

Reported February 2011

MIAMI, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Every eight seconds someone dies from tobacco use, yet worldwide 1.3 billion people still smoke. We know that the longer you smoke, the more damage it can do to your body, but is quitting the only thing that helps? Maybe not!

Artist and writer Linda Fisher-Kaletsky is one of those lifelong smokers who just isn’t ready to quit. So far, she says, lighting up hasn’t hurt her health.

“I eat well, I exercise regularly and I'm hedging my bets that if I want to have less than half a pack of Marlboros a day it’s going to be ok,” Linda Fisher-Kaletsky, a lifelong smoker, told Ivanhoe.

But, dozens of studies show the longer you smoke, the bigger the toll it takes on the body, especially the lungs. Now, University of Miami Pulmonologists, experts in lung disease, want to know if a novel therapy called whole body periodic acceleration could help.

“It feels like being rocked, but quickly,” Fisher-Kaletsky said.

This bed shakes the patient more than 100 times a minute. Studies show this can trigger the release of compounds that boost blood circulation, widen blood vessels in the lungs and reduce inflammation by helping the body expel nitric oxide.

"It actually has a beneficial effect on blood flow,” Adam Wanner, M.D., a pulmonologist at Umiami Miller School of Medicine, said.

Researchers believe a series of 45 minute treatments like this could help improve blood circulation compromised by smoking.

“I have hopes that something like this would have great benefit,” Fisher-Kaletsky said.

Even if this shaking bed can help, doctors say it’s no substitute for the most important thing any smoker can do for their health, that's quit smoking. Research with the shaking bed is continuing to investigate the potential benefits for conditions ranging from lung problems to muscle strains. The device, called “Exerrest” is currently in use in more than a dozen medical facilities around the U.S.

The Biophysical Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Dr. Adam Wanner
Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and
Sleep Medicine
awanner@med.miami.edu

A million people a year die from malaria, a life-threatening disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Now, scientists have developed a new weapon that could bring us a malaria-proof mosquito.

Each year 40-thousand cases of salmonella poisoning are reported in the u-s. Now a new technology is helping eggs cool down to stop salmonella.

71-percent of the earths' surface is covered by the sea. Now go the behind the scenes and talk to animals at a marine lab. We’ll show you what a couple of dolphins, a monk seal and a sea otter are doing to help save the sea

We depend on fossil fuels for 85-percent of our nation’s energy supply, so it's no wonder a team of scientists is looking at generating electricity from a really big source—the Atlantic Ocean.

Our planet's coral reefs are endangered. Watch, as several thousand balls of yarn become a sea of life in a one-of-a-kind, handmade coral reef.

Theories from great minds, discoveries from 150-million years ago, and paintings from artists we see in the best museums in the world…Now a powerful x-ray may change the way we think about the past

Forget dishpan hands! A new soap-free, scrub-free self-cleaning coat could change housework forever.

Travel to space! The amazing pictures that have scientists seeing Saturn in a whole new light.

Each year more than 700-thousand people in the U.S undergo joint replacement surgery, and recovery can be a pain. But a new device is helping get patients back on their feet faster and with less pain.

To make sure the patient gets the best care, doctors work harder and longer than anyone else. But did you know almost 90-percent of doctors who perform minimally invasive surgeries suffer neck, shoulder and back pain? Now doctors are studying other doctors to help make surgery easier and safer.

Every eight seconds someone dies from tobacco use. Now a new experimental therapy is helping shake things up—You’ve got to see this to believe it!

Here’s something to eat along with your “apple-a-day”. Find out which snack foods pack a healthy punch. We’ll tell you what the #1 snack is for your family.