Tobacco Use and Its Effects on Your Heart

By Keira Adams

Even those who love to smoke and chew tobacco are aware of its evil effects upon them. Your personal doctor has probably warned you about its harmful effects, but you can also find information from the Surgeon General's office and from campaigns all across the country. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable heart disease and heart attacks in the United States and also in the rest of the world. By smoking you increase your risk of heart attack by at least 300%.

Smoking results in rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, and lessens the quantity of oxygen in your blood. All of these factors combined put you at a higher risk of heart disease and attack.

Smoking includes utilizing pipes, cigarettes, and cigars. Although a lot of people believe that smoking cigars and pipes isn't as risky, the reality is that they have greater nicotine amounts along with other harmful substances.

One of the things that people frequently believe is that the use of smokeless tobacco will do less damage to your body than the use of a cigarette or cigar. This is any form of tobacco, whether you chew, smoke or sniff it. This habit is equally dangerous to the heart. In fact, if you use smokeless tobacco you're twice as likely to have a heart attack as someone who doesn't. And if you smoke and use smokeless tobacco you're actually four times more likely to have a heart attack than someone who doesn't use tobacco at all. And, in contrast to some habits which are all right if done moderately, using tobacco has no health advantages at all and doesn't have a safe level of utilization.

But there is good news. If you use tobacco, you can stop using it and tobacco's effects will start lessening. For a light smoker, your risk of heart disease can be reduced to that of a nonsmoker in as few as five to ten years of a nonsmoking lifestyle. If you smoke heavily, you can lessen your risk a lot, yet it might not ever get totally eliminated.

If you use any form of tobacco, now is the time to quit. You don't want to develop a heart condition, so stop that bad habit now. Sadly, a large number of individuals wait to stop till they get ill. At this point, several effects aren't reversible, although stopping can enhance your opportunities of surviving and your life's quality. But the sooner you quit, the better. - 32389

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