Smoking tobacco can cause a heart attack, stroke and raise blood pressure.
Smoking and your heart
- Smoking causes about 1/7 of heart disease deaths.
- Smokers under 40 are 5 times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers.
- Inhaling tobacco smoke raises your heart rate and your blood pressure. This puts a lot of pressure on your heart, increasing the risk of heart disease and strokes.
- Smoking can increase the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood, which narrows your arteries and can lead to blood clots.
- Stopping smoking at any age helps reduce the likelihood of having a stroke which means it’s never too late to quit.