How Does Smoking Cause Heart Disease?

Smoking is a major cause of heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease. People who smoke may die from it because it is due to cardiovascular disease. A smoker who stops smoking for at least a year will be able to reduce the risk of heart disease.

What Smoking Does to Your Heart

The heart needs the rich supply of oxygen and nutrients to the two coronary arteries and their branches for it to function the way it should. When an individual smokes, they will start the process of their arteries narrowing and reducing the blood flow to the heart and starving the heart. It is a fact that smoking will speed up the process of clogging and narrowing the coronary arteries.

When there is a blood clot forms and begins to block the flow of the blood through the arteries, then it will cause a heart attack. If the artery cannot be cleared quick enough to allow blood to flow correctly, there could be permanent damage to the heart.

The Risks of Smoking

When an individual smokes, they increase different risks of their health. For example, heart attacks from two to six times higher, stroke three times higher and heart disease. If the individual is a woman and smokes, heart disease can increase more than a man if she is on contraceptive pills.

Stop Smoking and Improve Your Health

Although it can takes some time for your health to get back to normal if you decide to quit smoking, but every little changes can have a great impact. If you stop smoking for a day, you heart rate will slow down and your blood pressure will slightly drop. Within a few months, you lungs will be able to clean out all the toxins that you have put in them from smoking.  After a year or more, there is a lesser chance of getting heart attacks and the risk of heart disease will reduce greatly and possible at a level as a non smoker.