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Last updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Smoking and Heart Disease

Heart Disease is a known killer, and unfortunately, once you are diagnosed with heart disease of any kind, the effects are often irreversible. What you are left with is chronic medical treatment, adjustments to your lifestyle, and being forced to live the rest of your life in chronic watch of your most vital organ, your heart. The two greatest risk factors towards being diagnosed with heart disease are smoking cigarettes and having a diet that is high in trans fat.

Eating too much fatty foods will accumulate fatty deposits in your blood that will ultimately block the arteries to your heart. Smoking is the leading risk factor in heart disease as it pumps carcinogens into your blood stream that attack your heart. Research connecting smoking and heart disease is clear, the sooner you stop smoking, the sooner you reduce, and eventually eliminate, your risk of heart disease all together.

You will be hard pressed to find a doctor that will deny any connection between smoking and heart disease. Though you may feel well now as you enjoy your pack of cigarettes a day, what you need to know is that the effects of smoking on heart disease are slow, but inevitable. You will not see immediate effects between smoking and heart disease as the process is slow and steady. Effects from smoking on your heart are gradual, but life threatening.

Smoking begins to cause heart disease in subtle manners. Initially, arteries begin to absorb the toxins from the smoke, and as time progresses and smoking continues, the toxins have nowhere to go. This causes artery constriction, and once your arteries become too constricted, you run the risk of suffering a heart attack.

smoking and heart disease
Chemicals from cigarettes are also absorbed by your blood stream, and it is essential that your blood remain healthy if you wish to maintain a healthy heart. As nicotine and tar circulates through your blood, it slowly contaminates your heart and other organs. Again, with chronic smoking, these contaminants have nowhere to go, so your blood will then become thick and will clot easier.

Smokers may find when they get a cut, or undergo surgery, that they will bleed longer than normal or take longer time to recover. The reason for this is that your blood can not clot properly and heal properly when it is affected by toxins from cigarettes. Nicotine may cause blood clots within the human system that will result in heart disease that raises your risk of a heart attack. Nicotine has also been proven to affect the various valves of the heart, with accumulated build up, the valves cease to function properly leading to heart attack or failure.

It simply can not be disputed that there is a link between smoking and heart disease. In fact, smoking is the highest risk factor of heart disease thus making heart disease preventable. Quit now and begin reducing your risks today.

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