Smoking

Smoking and your heart

What does smoking do to my heart and circulatory system?

The chemicals in cigarettes make the walls of your arteries sticky. This causes fatty material to stick to the walls. The fatty material can begin to clog your arteries and reduce the space for blood to flow properly.

• If the arteries that carry blood to your heart get clogged, it can lead to a heart attack.
• If the arteries that carry blood to your brain get clogged, it can lead to a stroke.

Smoking can also affect your heart and blood vessels by:

• increasing your risk of blood clots
• causing an instant rise to your heart rate
• causing an instant rise to your blood pressure
• reducing the amount of oxygen delivered to the rest of your body.

Is second-hand smoke harmful?

Second-hand smoke is harmful. Second-hand smoke (also known as passive smoke) is when you breathe in the smoke in the air from someone else’s cigarette and the smoke they breathe out.

When the people around you breathe in your cigarette smoke, it increases their risk of developing:

• breathing problems
• cancers like lung cancer
• cardiovascular disease like stroke and heart attack.

Children who live in a home with smokers can have double the risk of getting illnesses like:

• pneumonia
• ear infections
• wheezing and asthma.

You can help to protect your loved ones, friends and colleagues from the dangers of second-hand smoke by quitting.

Quitting smoking

What are the benefits of quitting smoking?

You might notice benefits sooner than you think:

• Your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to return to normal after 20 minutes.
• Your sense of smell and taste will begin to improve after 2 to 3 days.
• Your risk of a heart attack is half that of a smoker after 1 year.

Quitting smoking also has other benefits like:

• You will have fresher breath and whiter teeth.
• Your skin might look younger and age less quickly.
• You might have more energy, feel less tired and get less headaches.
• Your immune system will find it easier to fight off colds and flu.
• Your sex drive may increase, and it can improve your fertility.
• You will protect the health of your children, family and friends.

It’s never too late to benefit from stopping smoking. On average, smokers who quit in their 30s will add 10 years to their life. Even quitting at 60 will add 3 years. Being a non-smoker can also improve your chances of being more physically active and healthier as you get older. 

How can I quit smoking?

If you quit smoking, you will greatly improve your health and the health of everyone around you.

Beating a smoking habit is a challenge for many and it’s normal to have cravings while trying to quit. It may feel hard to resist the temptation to smoke sometimes. But you can make small changes to make it easier to stick to it:

• Try to think positively – even if you’ve tried to quit before and did not manage it, do not let it put you off trying again.
• Set a date to quit and tell your family, friends and colleagues so they can help you stick to it.
• Plan how you will deal with your cravings when you’re at events and times where you would usually smoke.
• If you usually smoke after meals, eat foods that can make cigarettes taste bad like cheese, fruit and vegetables. Or change your routine to keep your mind busy when you would usually smoke, like washing the dishes straight after eating.
• Cravings usually last around 5 minutes. Plan things you can do in 5 minutes to stay busy for when you get cravings.
• When you’re out, hold your drink with the hand that used to hold cigarettes and use a straw. This will help to keep your hands and mouth busy.
• When you get a craving, remind yourself of why you’re quitting. You may want to carry a picture of your family with you to look at if you’re tempted to smoke.

You are not alone. Aside from your family and friends, you can get support from healthcare professionals, stop smoking programmes and nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine replacement therapies are designed to help you quit smoking, but they should only be used to quit for good.

Stop smoking services offer many useful resources and are often more effective than doing it on your own.

You can make an appointment with your GP, pharmacy or practice nurse. They will be able to help you find a way to stop smoking that works for you.

• Find a stop smoking service near you

Cigarette ingredients

What is in a cigarette?

Cigarettes contain many toxic chemicals that harm your body even after you’ve finished your cigarette. Some of the harmful chemicals used in cigarettes are:

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas. It prevents your blood from carrying oxygen around your body properly. This forces your heart to work harder than it should. It also stops your lungs working as well as they should.

Tar

Tar stains smokers’ teeth and fingers a yellow-brown colour. It is very harmful to your health, it can cause:

• cancer
• lung disease
• cardiovascular disease
• your lungs to be more vulnerable to infections.

Nicotine

Nicotine is the addictive chemical found in regular cigarettes, most vapes and e-cigarettes, and shisha. It increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Untreated high blood pressure can increase the risk of:

• stroke
• heart attack
• heart failure
• kidney failure
• vascular dementia
• problems with your sight.

Smoking alternatives

Are smoking alternatives less harmful than cigarettes?

No smoking alternatives are risk-free but some are less harmful than cigarettes.

Vaping and e-cigarettes

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are less harmful than regular cigarettes and can be used to help you quit smoking. A vape is a device that you breath in vapour (steam) from rather than smoke.

The vapour contains nicotine, the addictive chemical used in cigarettes. Vapes do not burn tobacco and they do not produce tar or carbon monoxide.

Vapes can help you quit smoking by managing your cravings for nicotine. But because they use nicotine, vapes can be addictive. You should only use your vape when you really need it. If you have used vapes to successfully quit smoking normal cigarettes, you should consider quitting these as well.

Vapes should not be used by non-smokers or young people.

Shisha

Shisha is not safer than smoking cigarettes. Like cigarettes, shisha contains harmful chemicals that are very harmful to your heart.

Even if you use tobacco-free shisha, the smoke still produces harmful levels of toxins. This can be either just as bad for you or even more harmful than smoke from tobacco-based shisha.

• Find out more about shisha

Cannabis (weed)

Smoking cannabis (also known as weed, or marijuana), is not safer than smoking cigarettes.

Smoking cannabis often uses no filter and is often mixed with tobacco or other drugs, which causes more harmful effects. 

Smoking cannabis is not good for your lungs or heart. You are at a higher risk of having a heart attack 1 hour after smoking cannabis. Smoking cannabis can also increase your risk of:

• increased heart rate
• chest pain
• memory and learning issues
• being sick
• mental health problems
• stroke and heart disease
• lung damage
• developing schizophrenia.

It is against the law to smoke cannabis in the UK, unless you have been prescribed the use of medical cannabis.

• Get help to quit smoking cannabis

Smokeless tobacco

Smokeless tobacco is not safer than smoking cigarettes. It’s a type of tobacco that can either be chewed, sucked, or inhaled without producing smoke.

Most smokeless tobaccos have the same amount of nicotine as cigarettes. They can also have more than 25 chemicals that are known to cause cancer. Using smokeless tobacco can also increase your risk of having:

• complicated pregnancies
• mouth and tooth problems
• cardiovascular disease.

You might see smokeless tobacco being called snuff, snus or spit tobacco.

Low tar cigarettes

Smoking ‘low tar’ cigarettes is not safer than smoking regular cigarettes. Some cigarette packages describe the product as ‘low tar’, but this is misleading. Most ‘low tar’ cigarettes have the same amount of harmful chemicals as regular cigarettes.

‘Low tar’ cigarettes are often found in countries where the process of making cigarettes is less regulated than in the UK.

Get support

You're more likely to quit if you have support:

• Find NHS Stop Smoking Services near you or call the Smokefree National Helpline on 0300 123 1044 (England only). Support is also available in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
• Call our Heart Helpline to speak to one of our cardiac nurses.