Smoking and Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis: A Brief Introduction

Atherosclerosis is a specific disorder that causes arteries to narrow down and harden, thereby disastrously affecting the arterial blood vessels. However, when a person falls prey to Atherosclerosis, fatty substances get deposited inside the artery and the building up of fatty substances in the arterial lining leads to the hardening of arteries and ultimately results in heart diseases or stroke.

Atherosclerosis has emerged as the leading factor responsible for death in America and several other developed countries.

Risk Factors Of Atherosclerosis

A whole lot of factors are found to be responsible for triggering off Atherosclerosis. These include:

• Smoking
• Alcohol use
• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• family history of people suffering from Atherosclerosis
• Overweight/obesity
• Insufficient physical activity
• Ageing

Smoking: A Principal Cause Of Atherosclerosis

Consistent smoking is considered to be a primary cause of Atherosclerosis. It has been evaluated that smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco containing substances particularly increases the carbon monoxide level in the blood and thus escalates the risk of injury to the arterial wall. Altogether, smoking of tobacco products constricts the arteries already caused to become narrow by the effect of Atherosclerosis and therefore reduces the amount of blood reaching the tissues.

However, a specific experiment undertaken by the Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden reveals that the smokers who have reduced cigarette intake over a period of 8 weeks, are found to exhibit significant improvement in heart disease risk factors and altogether this study leads to the conclusion that smoking cessation significantly lowers the risk of atherosclerosis and other specific heart diseases.

The Final Conclusion On Smoking And Atherosclerosis

Finally, it is worth mentioning that in order to keep Atherosclerosis at bay, it is extremely essential to stop the intake of tobacco containing substances immediately.

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