Smoking & Heart Health: Understanding the Risks

While the heart is pumping blood to every part of your body, it's also picking up waste products from the body's cells. The waste includes cigarette smoke. The effects of cigarette smoking can be harmful to the heart.

Heart attack

• Tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide, which leads to inadequate blood supply. The heart has to work faster to obtain an adequate supply of oxygen. The stress of increased heart rate can cause a sudden heart attack.

Atherosclerosis

• Smoking increases the build up of plaques and cholesterol in the arteries, making them narrower and restricting the blood flow to the heart. Eventually atherosclerosis causes coronary heart disease, stroke and artery diseases.

Angina

• While this effect does not cause death, it is still dangerous. Since smoking interrupts the blood flow to the heart, angina includes a tightness and pain in the chest.

Heart Failure

• Blood pressure is increased by smoking. The nicotine in the tobacco elevates blood pressure, which may cause heart failure.

Stroke

• The lack of blood supply and oxygen to the brain caused by smoking can cause a stroke. Smokers are at a greater risk of suffering from a stroke.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

• Smoking may cause a bulge in the wall of the aorta near the stomach. This can restrict blood flow to the heart.