How does smoking damage your heart? Smoking, along with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes, tops the list as a primary risk factor for heart disease. Smoking increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, including coronary heart disease and stroke.

• Smoking damages the lining of your arteries, leading to a build up of fatty material (atheroma) that narrows the artery. This can cause angina, heart attack or stroke.
• The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood. This means your heart has to pump harder to supply the body with the oxygen it needs.
• The nicotine in cigarettes stimulates your body to produce adrenaline, which makes your heart beat faster and raises your blood pressure, making your heart work harder.
• Your blood is more likely to clot, which increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
• Smoking has also been linked with depression and stress.
• Smokers are almost twice as likely to have heart attack compared with people who have never smoked.

The American Heart Association (AHA) says diseases caused by smoking kill more than 440,000 people in the U.S. each year. Most new smokers are children and teens. Smokers have higher risk for lung disease including lung cancer and emphysema and heart disease and stroke.

Facts about smoking and heart diseases:

• One out of every 5 smoking-related deaths is caused by heart disease.
• Women older than 35 who smoke and take birth control pills are at much greater risk for heart disease or stroke.
• Cigarette smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to get heart disease than nonsmokers.
• Cigarette smoking doubles a person’s risk for stroke

Dr.N.Mariappan
Plastic surgeon
Ramagondanahalli
Whitefield, Bangalore –560066
Ph: 9901043568
E-mail: drn_m@hotmail.com

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