Cardio Health: Dangers of Smoking

Smoking is highly detrimental to health, especially towards our cardio health. As one of the major causes of coronary heart disease amongs urban dwellers, every puff of smoke that you take decreases your lifespan by seconds. Heart disease is the number one killer disease in Singapore. This probably has got to do with the increasing number of smokers in the Singapore.

How smoking leads to coronary heart disease:
1. The carbon monoxide present in the cigarettes attaches to the haemoglobin which prevents the red blood cells from carrying oxygen to the heart and throughout the rest of the body.
2. Blood pressure is also raised as a result of the nicotine present in the cigarette which constricts the arteries throughout the body. This puts tremendous amount of stress on the heart as the heart now has to work harder.
3. Smoking also decreases the levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) aka good cholesterol while increasing the production of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) aka bad cholesterol.

Besides increasing the risk of coronary heart disease, smoking also has other harmful effects which include:
1. Obesity: According to research, smokers are 3 times more at risk of becoming obese than non-smokers.
2. Lung cancer: Smoking makes you 10 times more at risk of lung cancer than non-smokers.
3. Yellow teeth and bad breath: Just imagine yourself going for a nice date; you wouldn’t want anything to go wrong, would you?
4. Passive smoking: Maybe your loved ones and friends are not smoking. However, if they inhale your puffs when you breathe out, they are actually getting the same amount of negative effects, if not worse.

As you can see, smoking is one of the worst habits that you can develop. I know that quitting smoking is not easy due to the craving for nicotine; however here are some ways that have worked well for my friends:
1. Make an effort to reduce smoking, not to stop completely. You will fail if you attempt to immediately stop smoking. Attempt to cut the number of sticks per day.
2. Aim to reduce 1 stick per day. Hold onto to the 1 stick reduction for 7 days.
3. Then reduce 2 sticks per day and hold onto to that reduction for 7 days.
4. Do it again and again until you become used to not smoking.

This method works well with visualization and imagination. The whole idea is to reduce the withdrawal symptoms and build up your tolerance towards lesser smoking. This definitely takes time. But for the sake of your cardio health, your body and your loved ones, it is an endeavour that you must not give up!