My mother who didn't work used to smoke a lot, notably in the bathroom
where she said smoking would hide the smell of poop. (It didn't, in my opinion). She
also smoked for hours on end when she was talking to "Aunt" Eleanor, her best friend.
She smoked when she sat outside at night in the 1950s and 60s with the neighbors--the Craigs, the Scotts, the Lynches, the Groffs, the Baldinos--and she
smoked when she was preparing every decorative, Betty Crocker-like meal, and a few cigarettes after, because she said cigarettes were relaxing.
Heart disease and stroke are often glopped together because they fall into the category of cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) diseases (CVDs).
In the United States, heart disease includes the most
common type--coronary heart disease, which is narrowing of the blood vessels
that carry blood to the heart. The narrowing can cause chest pain, arrhythmia (when the heart beats irregularly, too fast, or too slow), or heart attack (when blood flow to the heart becomes blocked and a section of the heart muscle is damaged or dies), or heart failure (failure to get the organs to survive because the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen).
Similarly, a stroke occurs when
a blood vessel in the brain bursts (hemorrhagic stroke, which is the kind I had), causing brain tissue to die, or when the blood supply to the brain is blocked (ischemic stroke). Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability, or even death.
Smoking is one of the major causes of CVD and results in one of every 3 deaths. Smoking can:
- Increase the buildup of plaque in blood vessels
- Cause thickening and narrowing of blood vessels
- Make blood thick and more likely to clot
- Raise triglycerides and lower good cholesterol (HDL)
Breathing secondhand smoke can cause coronary heart disease, including heart attack and stroke. I've already told you about my mother. And my father smoked cigars. I was doomed. Here are the highlights:
- Each year, second-hand smoke exposure causes more than 8,000 deaths from stroke.
- Nonsmokers who breathe second-hand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30%.
- Second-hand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20−30%.
- Even briefly breathing secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood to dangerously thicken.
The most alarming news in a recent study has found that people using e-cigarettes may be
at higher risk of a life-threatening stroke than ordinary cigarette
smokers.
But recent research at Johns Hopkins University used mice who were exposed to e-cigarette vapor for 2 weeks and were found to have greater nerve damage, and their lungs were less capable of fighting off viral and bacterial infections when compared to mice not exposed to the vapor.
One researcher said, “Vaping is not safer than tobacco smoking and may pose a similar,
if not higher, risk for stroke severity. Stopping smoking is the single most important step you can take to
improve your heart health."
The British Heart Foundation is funding research to find out "whether or
not they are as safe as people think.” The devices are targeted at helping people quit smoking
cigarettes, but they have been ironically called the “gateway to smoking.”
A study reported in February 2017 said that e-cigarettes may be just
as detrimental for your heart as smoking ordinary cigarettes. The researchers observed
that vapers were more likely to show signs of two key heart risk
factors: increased
levels of the hormone adrenaline in the heart and increased oxidative
stress (an imbalance between the
oxygen and the body's willingness to detoxify or to repair the resulting damage).
E-cigarettes were introduced around 10 years ago and currently have about 9 million users.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals a shocking increase in nicotine poisoning incidents, which "can be toxic, even fatal, to children even in small doses." Additionally, inhaled nicotine increases heart rate
and blood pressure, one of the major causes of stroke.
The Food and Drug
Administration in a remarkable move in May 2016 administered legislation extending federal authority over
e-cigarettes. "This action resulted in banning their sale to anyone under
18 and requiring adults under 26 to show photo identification," The New York Times reports.
People reading my post won't necessarily stop smoking just because I said to stop. And they won't necessarily stop smoking just because some health professional told them to stop. People are funny like that. They'd probably only stop smoking when something catastrophic happens to them. Like a stroke, for instance.
