According to the American Heart Association, the number one cause of death in the United States that can be prevented is cigarette smoking. While smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease, there are other risk factors that smoking affects, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and atherosclerosis. If you smoke, you not only have one major risk factor, you are magnifying the other risk factors, thereby greatly increasing your chances of developing heart disease.
Smoking Raises Blood Pressure
There are thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke that raise your blood pressure and, according to the Mayo Clinic, nicotine is one of the chief culprits. When nicotine is inhaled, it immediately increases the heart rate and raises blood pressure. While the effects may only be temporary, and heart rate and blood pressure may return to normal within an hour after your cigarette, the more you smoke the more chronically elevated your blood pressure becomes. This significantly increases your risk for heart disease.
Smoking Raises Cholesterol Levels
A report on cholesterol from Rutgers University explains that high density lipoprotein (HDL) works in your blood by taking cholesterol from the blood cells and transporting it to the liver for processing. Low density lipoproteins (LDL) don't do such a good job, however. LDL takes the cholesterol and deposits it along the walls of the arteries and blood vessels, which will cause them to eventually thicken, making it harder for blood to pass through. As the blood has a harder time passing through the arteries, chest pain can develop. According to Rutgers, and the American Heart Association, smoking lowers the level of HDL in the blood, which leaves the cholesterol to be processed by LDL. This thickening of the arterial walls can lead to hardening of the arteries, and is a symptom of heart disease.
Smoking Causes Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is also known as hardening of the arteries, and we noted above one way that smoking contributes to the thickening of the arterial walls. The National Institute of Health states that as these fatty deposits build up, they can harden and form calcium deposits or plaque. If, and when, a chunk of this build up loosens, it can pass through the blood stream and block a blood vessel to the brain or heart, which will cause a heart attack or a stroke. Atherosclerosis is a major contributor to heart disease.
