Tobacco smoking is no longer just a bad habit - the World Health Organization calls it a global tobacco epidemic. Cancer, diabetes, chronic lung diseases and cardiovascular pathologies - all these are terrible consequences of the usual tightening. According to WHO estimates, cardiovascular diseases are on the first place in the list of deadly diseases of smokers.
The effect of smoking on the heart and blood vessels
World statistics assures - each cigarette reduces the life expectancy by 10-15 minutes. And chemists explain - tobacco smoke, getting into the body, penetrates into the tissue for half a minute. During this time all harmful tobacco substances are absorbed into the blood - nicotine and poisonous tar, carbon monoxide, particles of acetone, cadmium, ammonium, etc.
The organism experiences the greatest stress, and the brain instantly sends a command to the adrenal glands, where hormones are producedstress - adrenaline and cortisol. The effect of these substances is similar - they cause the heart to work at twice the rate, thereby causing a spasm of blood vessels and increasing blood pressure. But if the surge of adrenaline in the blood usually quickly subsides and the hormone level returns to normal, then cortisol is not so simple.
At the same time, carbon monoxide enters the case - its molecules connect with hemoglobin much faster than oxygen and block the access of oxygen to the heart and blood vessels of a person. Vascular spasms and oxygen starvation increase the formation of harmful cholesterol, which is deposited on the vascular walls and forms fatty plaques.
Consequences of smoking
Smoking causes two most dangerous cardiovascular ailments - ischemic heart disease( CHD) and atherosclerosis. All other diseases are complications of these diagnoses.
The consequences of IHD include:
- cardiac arrest( sudden coronary death);
- myocardial infarction;
- arrhythmia;
- postinfarction cardiosclerosis;
- heart failure;
- angina.
Atherosclerosis in the future can lead to a stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm, circulatory disorders in other arteries of the body.
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Ischemic heart disease
In ischemia, coronary heart vessels can not provide a full blood supply to the myocardium, and the heart muscle begins to gradually break down. This is due to the fact that the body is not able to provide a full volume of oxygen for normal cardiac work.
There are three main factors in the development of IHD: smoking( carbon monoxide deprives the body of oxygen), hypertension( oxygen can not pass through narrow arteries) and atherosclerosis( clogged blood vessels also can not pass oxygen).And since nicotine is one of the causes of the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis, IHD today remains a typical disease of smokers.
In 1976-1982, American scientists conducted a large-scale experiment in medical institutions of the country.119 thousand nurses from 30 to 55 years old without a diagnosis of ischemic heart disease became participants.30% of them smoked.
Recently, the US Institute of Medicine has published even more shocking statistics - with passive smoking, cigarette smoke increases the risk of developing coronary artery disease by 25-30%.
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction is a severe form of IHD, in which the damaged area of the myocardium gradually dies( necrosis occurs).To date, myocardial infarction in our country - the cause of death of about 65% of the population.
The World Health Organization in the late XX century launched a large research project MONICA.The history of ordinary people's diseases was studied from 33 to 64 years, the experiment covered 21 countries. It was found that the risk of non-fatal heart attack among young people under 40 years is 5 times higher than that of smokers. And in women, these indicators are slightly higher.
Another large-scale study, already in the US, has shown that the possibility of a repeated heart attack in active smokers increases by 1.5 times. And death from a heart attack among smokers occurs 2.5 times more often than in the ardent opponents of cigarettes.
Hypertensive disease
Only one cigarette smoked provides a vasospasm for 20-30 minutes. And if you "take" a pack a day, the vessels simply do not get a breather and can not return to normal.
When the vascular clearance decreases, the load on the heart rises sharply - he has to overcome the resistance of compressed arteries and at the same time to work by pumping the required volume of blood. As a result, the heart rate increases by 10-20 beats per minute, and the heart rate is 4 times faster.
Adds a dangerous effect of tobacco smoke - nicotine poisons destroy the cell walls, worsen the absorption of micro- and macroelements, which causes the vessels to become brittle and lose flexibility. The formation of fatty cholesterol plaques increases, and because of the high pressure in the vessels, these plaques are practically imprinted into the walls and further reduce the clearance in the arteries.
Although increased pressure is one of the first effects of a cigarette smoked, some physicians do not believe that hypertension is the main complication of tobacco dependence. But recognize - if a person has a genetic predisposition, the risk of developing hypertension with smoking is amplified at times. And along with it - atherosclerosis, thrombophlebitis and other vascular pathologies.
Slowing of blood flow
Slowed blood flow during smoking is also one of the typical syndromes. Usually, blood flow disorders are accompanied by vasospasms and fat deposits in the arteries - narrow vessels simply are not capable of distilling the same volume of blood as in a healthy state.
Sometimes, smokers are diagnosed with a so-called coronary syndrome. In this case, the blood moves slowly, but no pathological changes in the vessels are observed.
Slowing blood flow is not dangerous in and of itself, but its consequences. If the blood slowly goes through the vessels, it does not manage to convey to the heart the right amount of oxygen and nutrients. Insufficient blood flow in the myocardium leads to coronary heart disease, and oxygen starvation of the myocardium is fraught with a heart attack.
Prevention
The only way to avoid cardiovascular disease associated with the effects of nicotine is to quit smoking. This conclusion lies on the surface, and doctors in this matter are unanimous. Numerous studies confirm this hypothesis.
American doctors argue that it is never too late to give up nicotine - those who stopped smoking after 15 years are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases to the level of those who never took a cigarette in their mouth.
If you can not completely forget about cigarettes, you must at least reduce their daily quantity.
It is compulsory to maintain the heart and blood vessels in the simplest ways:
- healthy food( refuse fatty, sweet, smoked, not to provoke the growth of cholesterol);
- constant motor activity( a small charge in the morning, a ladder instead of an elevator);
- cardio to improve the flow of oxygen to the heart( walking in nature and in the park, bicycle, swimming);
- the correct mode of the day and a full-fledged sleep;
- reception of vitamins and antioxidants( especially vitamins B, C, folic acid and E).
But there is an important nuance - antioxidants help maintain vascular and cardiac muscle health only in one case - if you completely give up cigarettes or reduce them to a minimum. As a result of the Finnish experiment, where the influence of beta-carotene and vitamin E on the organism of heavy smokers was investigated, it was established that there is simply no essential prevention of heart attacks from vitamins. Therefore, the main condition for heart and vascular health is your personal struggle with the global tobacco epidemic.