DO YOU light up a cigarette as soon as you wake up? Research studies conducted in the United States have revealed that smokers who light up the very next moment after they wake up stand high chances of developing cancer when compared with the people who light up at least after an hour after waking up. The research concluded that smoking in the first half an hour doubles the risk of getting exposed to lung cancer.

Meanwhile, the Cancer Research UK too added that such an act also makes people to inhale more smoke.

For supporting their research, the team at the Penn State College of Medicine in the United States took an example of 4,776 smokers affected with lung cancer and 2,835 smokers without cancer.

However, the team also made some adjustments like taking into consideration the number of cigarettes a person smokes per day vis a vis the time to first cigarette factor.

A lead researcher was quoted saying by a leading British newspaper that these smokers have higher levels of nicotine and possibly other tobacco toxins in their body, and they may be more addicted than smokers who refrain from smoking for a half hour or more.

Another researcher from the Cancer Research UK was also quoted saying by the same paper that smokers who light up soon after waking tend to smoke each cigarette more intensively. So the most likely explanation of this finding is that the sooner a smoker lights up, the more smoke is taken into the lungs, and the higher the level of exposure to cancer causing chemicals. This may help estimating levels of tobacco exposure more than just looking at the usual daily cigarette consumption.