Don't Smoke
Did you know that cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors for heart disease? As a woman, your risk of heart disease is doubled if you smoke. Smoking causes almost one-fifth of all deaths from heart disease and leads to lung cancer and other serious diseases.
Smoking or even being around secondhand smoke puts you at greater risk for heart disease because:
- Smoking raises your "bad cholesterol" (LDL) and lowers your "good cholesterol" (HDL).
- Smoking hardens your arteries and reduces blood flow.
- Nicotine increases the tendency of blood to clot which can cause a heart attack.
- Nicotine increases your heart rate and blood pressure.
- Smoking forces your heart to work harder.
Cigarette smoke also has over 250 harmful chemicals in it, including addictive nicotine. Sixty-nine of these chemicals cause cancer. Low -tar and low-nicotine cigarettes do not reduce the risk of heart diseases. There is no safe way to smoke. The good news is that once you stop smoking, you get immediate health benefits.
- Within a few weeks of quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal.
- After one year of not smoking, your risk of heart disease caused by smoking is reduced by fifty percent.
- After 15 years of not smoking, your risk of heart disease is the same as that of a person who has never smoked.
- Women who quit smoking between the ages of 35 to 39 add three years to their lives.
Suggestions and Resources
If you follow these tips you can stop smoking:
- Use nicotine replacement products such as the patch, gum, nasal spray, inhaler and lozenges. These products have proven to be highly effective.
- See your doctor to discuss if prescription drugs that help reduce tobacco dependency would be best for you.
- Join a smoking cessation program at your community health department.
- Try www.LungUSA.org, a web-based smoking cessation program which provides ongoing support for ex-smokers.
- Contact your American Lung Association by calling 1-800-LUNGUSA to get a list of chapters and programs in your neighborhood.
More healthy living tips:
- Eat Healthy
- Get Active
- Lose Weight
- Don't Smoke
- Limit Sugars
- Manage Stress
