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     Smoking And Your Heart
     Understanding the effects of smoking on your heart and blood vessels is important. When you smoke, you inhale several chemicals into your lungs that can hurt your heart and blood vessels. As blood travels through your lungs to pick up oxygen, it also picks up these chemicals.
     Nicotine is one of the major chemicals you inhale while smoking. Once it gets into your bloodstream, it makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure rise. This increases the work of the heart. Eventually, your heart can become damaged from the extra work. Nicotine also speeds up coronary artery disease and increases the risk of clot formation in the bloodstream. The arteries become narrowed, resulting in less blood and oxygen traveling through them to the heart. This increases your chances of having a heart attack or myocardial infarction. Remember that a heart attack can occur when a clot totally blocks an artery on the outside of your heart.
     Carbon monoxide is another chemical inhaled while smoking. Nicotine and carbon monoxide together decrease the amount of oxygen supplied to your tissues. Nicotine causes your blood vessels to narrow (constrict). This allows less blood to travel through them. Carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen normally carried by your blood. As a result, the amount of oxygen supplied to the various parts of your body can drop below the amount needed. Permanent damage can result.
     If you are wondering whether low-tar or low-nicotine cigarettes are better for your heart, the answer is NO. Studies have shown that changing over to this type of cigarette results in smoking more cigarettes per day. It also results in a tendency to inhale more deeply when smoking. As a result, harmful amounts of nicotine and carbon monoxide are still inhaled. If you need further assistance to quit smoking, there are various methods available. Ask your doctor to go over the various “quit smoking” methods, so that you can determine the one that is best for you.
     http://www.alexian.org/progserv/heartcare/information/smoking.html

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