Smoking significantly ups your odds of having a heart attack; within a year or two of quitting, your risk decreases substantially.
(123RF)
If asthma, lung cancer, and emphysema aren't enough to scare you off, it turns out smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD) than nonsmokers. Cardiovascular disease—including CAD, heart failure, and heart attack—is the leading killer in the U.S., claiming more than 860,000 lives in 2005.
Smoking ups your risk for heart disease by decreasing the flow of oxygen to the heart and raises your risk for atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Lighting up also damages the cells that line the coronary arteries and increases your likelihood of blood clots. In fact, heart-related complications are one of the main reasons cigarettes can take so much time off a smoker's lifespan.
But there's good news: Once you quit, your risk for heart disease is substantially reduced within one to two years. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death, and putting out your butts significantly brings down your risk for heart disease.
Interactive tool: How does smoking increase your risk of heart attack?
Click here to find out how much smoking increases your heart attack risk.
This interactive tool measures how smoking—independent of other risk factors—affects your chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years. The tool uses the values you enter to calculate your risk. The information is based on the Framingham Heart Study. During the past 50 years, the Framingham Heart Study has studied the progression of heart disease and the risk factors of heart disease. The data were then developed into a risk assessment by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The values you enter include your age and gender. The tool uses a systolic blood pressure of 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), an HDL cholesterol measurement of 55 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), and a total cholesterol measurement of 200 mg/dL to calculate your risk based on smoking alone.
In the real world, smoking has some additional negative effect on both cholesterol and blood pressure. If you smoke and also have other risk factors for heart disease, your risk may be higher than this tool says it is.
(123RF)
If asthma, lung cancer, and emphysema aren't enough to scare you off, it turns out smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD) than nonsmokers. Cardiovascular disease—including CAD, heart failure, and heart attack—is the leading killer in the U.S., claiming more than 860,000 lives in 2005.
Smoking ups your risk for heart disease by decreasing the flow of oxygen to the heart and raises your risk for atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Lighting up also damages the cells that line the coronary arteries and increases your likelihood of blood clots. In fact, heart-related complications are one of the main reasons cigarettes can take so much time off a smoker's lifespan.
But there's good news: Once you quit, your risk for heart disease is substantially reduced within one to two years. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death, and putting out your butts significantly brings down your risk for heart disease.
Interactive tool: How does smoking increase your risk of heart attack?
Click here to find out how much smoking increases your heart attack risk.
This interactive tool measures how smoking—independent of other risk factors—affects your chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years. The tool uses the values you enter to calculate your risk. The information is based on the Framingham Heart Study. During the past 50 years, the Framingham Heart Study has studied the progression of heart disease and the risk factors of heart disease. The data were then developed into a risk assessment by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The values you enter include your age and gender. The tool uses a systolic blood pressure of 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), an HDL cholesterol measurement of 55 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), and a total cholesterol measurement of 200 mg/dL to calculate your risk based on smoking alone.
In the real world, smoking has some additional negative effect on both cholesterol and blood pressure. If you smoke and also have other risk factors for heart disease, your risk may be higher than this tool says it is.
Millions of Americans will quit smoking in the Great American Smokeout this Thursday. But it's important to remember that the average smoker quits 7-10 times, so the challenge is not only in quitting originally, but in making sure that you continue to live your life smoke-free. This year there’s a new idea to help smokers stay quit after the official Smokeout on Thursday. Its called Quit and Stay Quit Monday - smokers who make the decision to quit smoking on the Great American Smokeout can reaffirm their commitment to staying tobacco free on the following Monday and each Monday after that to ensure that they are still tobacco-free. Each week is an opportunity for you to celebrate your progress or recommit to improving your health and well-being. Check out www.healthymonday.org/stayquit for more info.