CHAPTER 7

Smoking Assaults the Heart & Arteries

How smoking damages blood vessel linings and raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes

PART 1 Smooth Interior

When you are born, the interior of your blood vessels is perfectly smooth and even, like glass. This interior surface, called the endothelial lining, is a slick, speedy superhighway for your circulating blood. As you age, the lining gets roughed up. Many factors that cause inflammation, from an unhealthful diet to poor dental care, can weaken the endothelial lining. The toxins in cigarette smoke, however, threaten your arteries' interior every time you light up. READ MORE

The caustic ingredients in cigarette smoke cause little imperfections in the endothelial lining. These spots are bumps in the road for circulating blood, and they can snag extraneous cells. The accumulation, called a plaque, narrows and eventually blocks the blood vessel. Plaques in the arteries are the precursor to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Another danger is that plaques can cause blood clots that break away and cause damage elsewhere. LESS

PART 2 Messing with Your Flow

The nicotine in cigarettes is a potent stimulant that causes your blood vessels to constrict. This raises your blood pressure, and affects circulation to the extremities. If your arteries are already hardening as a result of arterial plaque buildup, the risk of complete blockage jumps up when blood vessels are constricted. The same set of factors causes your risk for heart attack to go up as well. READ MORE

There is a layer of smooth muscle in your arterial walls. The muscle layer allows the arteries to dilate and contract. Nicotine can trigger a muscle spasm in this tissue layer, increasing your blood pressure. If such a spasm occurs in a coronary artery, which feeds the heart, it can cause a heart attack. Smokers are twice as likely as nonsmokers to die from a heart attack. They also suffer many other health ailments related to poor circulation (See Chapter 6, “Smoke Damage, Head-to-Toe”). LESS

PART 3 Your Brain at Risk

It Adds Up

Double Risk of stroke...

The carotid arteries are the circulatory system's main supply line to your brain. They run along the front of the neck. The effects of atherosclerosis involving these arteries could be incapacitating, even deadly. When the brain's blood supply is cut off by a blockage, brain tissue begins to die—known as an ischemic stroke. Smokers are at much greater danger of this high-risk event. READ MORE

The combined effects of vessel constriction, atherosclerosis and some genetic factors put smokers at much higher risk for ischemic stroke. The extent of damage such a stroke might cause depends upon how much brain tissue is destroyed, and what part of the brain is involved. In order for the brain tissue death to be arrested, normal circulation must be restored. Often, if circulation isn't reestablished within 30 minutes, severe brain damage takes place. Women should be aware that the combination of smoking and oral contraceptives elevates the risk of ischemic stroke even more than just smoking. LESS