2015-09-06
406
QUITTING SMOKING
Many people who are addicted to tobacco believe that smoking has no effect on the heart, but the evidence is loaded against them. The nicotine in tobacco smoke increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure, while the carbon monoxide cuts down the amount of oxygen that can be carried by your blood. The heart must work harder but has less oxygen supplied to it. If you smoke, the best way to reduce your risk of heart disease is to quit.
Everybody knows that smoking can cause cancer, but not everyone realizes how bad it is for the heart. Overall, cigarette smokers have a death rate from coronary heart disease that is 70% higher that that of nonsmokers. The more heavily you smoke 40 or more cigarettes a day, you are between two and three times more likely to die of heart disease than a nonsmoker.
Smoking also increases the likelihood of cerebrovascular disease (disorders of blood vessels in the brain) and thus increases the risk of stroke. It is also directly related to diseases of the arteries in the legs. Smokers make up at least 95 % of patients suffering from these diseases – which can result in gangrene and amputation of the leg.
Stop now.
A strong motivation to quit smoking is the most important factor in being successful. Some people find it easiest to go “cold turkey”, quitting all smoking at once. Many people benefit from behavior modification programs.
If you give up smoking, your risk of heart disease declines rapidly. For example, if you consume less than one pack of cigarettes a day and give up now, after about 3 years of not smoking your risk of heart disease is almost identical to that of a lifelong nonsmoker. As the years without tobacco pass, the risk diminishes for other diseases as well. Every day spent without smoking is an investment in your future health.
