Heartsavers - Smoking
Smokers who quit can begin to reap the health benefits within
a few months. Your risk of a heart attack is halved after a year.
Prevention of coronary heart disease.
Effects of smoking on the heart
The majority of people know that smoking causes lung cancer, the link is obvious, the smoke goes straight into your lungs and the poisonous chemicals in the smoke gradually change the cells that comprise your lung tissues into pre-cancerous cells and then into a malignant tumour.
Although less obvious the effects of smoking on the heart can be just as deadly. The nicotine and other poisonous chemicals are absorbed into your bloodstream when you smoke and injure the lining of the coronary arteries (and all the other arteries in the body). Not only that, smoking also depletes certain vitamins and minerals from the body, most notably vitamin C which is essential for maintaining healthy arteries. Also smoking causes narrowing of the coronary arteries and blood clots to form more easily. As if that were not enough smoking will tend to increase your blood pressure, another major risk factor in coronary heart disease.
When you quit smoking the poisonous chemicals (there are around two thousand in each cigarette) disappear from your bloodstream within days, immediately reducing your risk of a heart attack.