There are many factors that contribute to a person developing heart disease and smoking is ranked as belonging to the top six which are elevated cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, hypertension or high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. These factors, quite coincidentally, are also the only factors that we can change or control. Smoking cigarettes has become quite so rampant that the Surgeon General has started calling it as “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.” So, how does smoking cause heart disease?
Smoking alone is an important factor in raising your risk of developing coronary heart disease. It increases your chances of having high blood pressure, blood clots, and lowers your tolerance in doing physical activities. Studies have shown that smoking also hastens the narrowing of your arteries which is medically termed as atherosclerosis.
Heart attacks are caused by smoking due to the toxic substances such as nicotine and carbon monoxide that can be found in cigarettes and tobacco. These substances, when interact with your arteries, make them harden and inflexible which results to a disruption of blood flow leading to your vital organs. When we smoke, what happens is that carbon monoxide lessens your body’s capability of receiving oxygen. When insufficient oxygen is supplied to your lungs, your respiratory system is greatly affected, not only will your lungs become swollen and damaged but also every organ composing your respiratory system. Long exposure to this condition makes your arteries narrower and blood clots tend to form on your arterial walls which is a process called atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis is a condition wherein your arteries harden and become clogged. This condition is one of the main causes of developing heart disease. Clogged arteries block the normal passage of your blood in your bloodstream which keeps your heart from receiving enough oxygen and blood. When your heart doesn’t receive enough blood and oxygen, your body reacts by producing angina or chest pain. This condition also leads to the formation of blood clots which would serve as a blockage along your arteries and cause a heart attack.
Smoking hastens the development of atherosclerosis by damaging your heart and blood vessels. Cigarette smoking elevates your risk of forming blood clots due to both atherosclerosis and due to the fact that smoking makes your blood platelets clump together to form a mass that might also affect your blood’s circulation.
Research have shown that for those people who smoke and have stopped smoking for a duration of one year lessen their risk of developing heart disease by one half that of current smokers. A period of 15 years without smoking makes their risk of heart disease same as for those who are nonsmokers.
