Results were similar twelve months after quitting, with 11.9 percent of the exercising women remaining abstinent, compared to 5.4 percent of the non-exercising women. In addition, women in the group that exercised vigorously improved their exercise capacity and gained less weight by the end of treatment. At the end of treatment, the women who exercised had gained an average of 3.05 kilograms, compared to non-exercisers, who gained a average of 5.40 kilograms. About 22 million adult women age 18 and older, as well as 1.5 million adolescent girls, currently smoke cigarettes, the CDC reports. Typically, females begin smoking during adolescence, and the earlier a young women starts, the more heavily she will probably smoke as an adult.
Female smokers increase their risk for chronic health problems and early death.
In fact, lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. In addition, tobacco puts women at risk for cancers of the bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, mouth, throat, and esophagus. Heart Disease and Stroke. Smoking greatly increase a woman's risk of heart attack and stroke. While most of these deaths are of women past the age of menopause, some studies suggest that smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease among premenopausal women who take birth control pills.