How does smoking affect your cardiovascular health?

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Smoking can affect almost any part of the body, thanks to cigarette smoke, which is a toxic mixture of over 7,000 chemicals. When inhaled, it can interfere with important processes in the body. One of these processes is the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to your heart and the rest of your body.

How smoking affects ,  cardiovascular health?

When you breathe air from the atmosphere, the lungs take in oxygen and deliver it to the heart, which pumps this oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body through the blood vessels. But when you breathe cigarette smoke, the blood that is distributed to the rest of the body becomes contaminated with the chemicals in the smoke. These chemicals can affect your heart and blood vessels,  which can lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD) – the leading cause of death in the United States. CVD is a generic term that refers to  multiple conditions that affect the heart or blood vessels : coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, aneurysms, peripheral artery disease
In addition to permanently damaging your heart and blood vessels, cigarette smoke can also cause CVD by changing the chemistry of the blood and causing plaque formation – a waxy substance made up of cholesterol, scar tissue, calcium, fat and other material – the arteries, the main blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the body . This buildup of plaque can lead to a disease called  atherosclerosis. This can create blood clots and eventually lead to a heart attack or stroke, even death. Other rare but serious cardiovascular conditions that can be caused by smoking include: Peripheral arterial disease (and peripheral vascular disease): a condition in which narrowing of the blood vessels leads to insufficient blood flow to the arms, legs, hands and feet. More women than men die from aortic aneurysms and almost all deaths from this condition are caused by smoking.

How can you protect your heart?

The best way to protect your heart from smoking is to never start using cigarettes, but if you are a smoker, the sooner you can quit, the better!

Quitting smoking benefits your heart and cardiovascular system now and in the future: Twenty minutes after quitting, your heart rate slows down. Just 12 hours after quitting , carbon monoxide levels in the blood drops to normal, allowing  access to  oxygen ‘s the organelle is vital , as your heart . Within 4  years of quitting, the risk of stroke decreases to that of non-smokers for life . 

Although smoking cessation is difficult, it is achievable, and smoking cessation therapies such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). If you are a smoker and are concerned about your cardiovascular health, consulting your doctor about NRT or other discontinuation options and asking for help to quit can help protect your heart in the long run.

In addition, a healthy lifestyle greatly increases the level of heart health! Choose daily exercise instead of nicotine. You will feel much more energetic, and over time the need to smoke will disappear. With a little discipline and perseverance you can adopt a lifestyle based on healthy habits .

Now you have an ally for daily discipline, the Dahna app is the personal assistant , which helps you with over 200 healthy menu ideas, shopping list and exercise recommendations!

The health of your heart is the most important!

Source: here.