Most of us accept that there is a link between cholesterol levels and a healthy heart. I certainly didn’t expect to find smoking tied to that link. Comprehending that something I inhale influences a waxy, fat-like substance in my blood to the point that it has a negative impact on my heart was difficult. And, I found that cholesterol was not the only way smoking affects the heart.
When I looked into this I had and “aha!” moment—a connection between unhealthy cholesterol levels and smoking that should have been obvious: Because smoking adversely affects the lungs, it decreases tolerance and inclination for exercise. While exercise has a positive influence on the levels and quality of both good and bad cholesterol, inactivity allows the presence of (bad) LDL cholesterol to increase and (good) HDL to decrease. Also, both of these lipoproteins tend to be smaller in people who do not exercise regularly. (And, in this case smaller is, definitely, not better.) Smaller means more LDL is likely to stick to arterial walls, hardening into a plaque that narrows the passageways for blood flowing away from the heart. It takes time for this plaque to form, but as it develops the heart has to work increasingly harder to keep blood moving. This effort elevates blood pressure, another detriment to a healthy heart—one that can end in a heart attack. I did a post on this topic recently.
In addition to setting the body up to develop long-term high blood pressure there are chemical compounds in tobacco products that produce much the same effect immediately: In the first minute of a smoking session the heart starts to beat significantly faster. Other compounds cause blood vessels to constrict. Together these two effects increase the heart’s workload. Another consequence to this dual problem is that the over stimulated heart can push enough blood into a constricted artery to make it balloon. Small injuries may result and these are ideal places for more cholesterol to settle. (A really big tear would be an aneurism, which can quickly result in death.)
The heart will, also, be working in a debilitated state because carbon monoxide in the tobacco smoke fills the lungs and steals the place of oxygen in the blood on the way to the heart as it passes through them. Oxygen deprivation leads to a buildup of carbon dioxide (a poisonous waste product) in all parts of the body, including the heart. One of the ways the body tries to compensate for oxygen deprivation is to produce more red blood cells (blood cells that have the function of carrying oxygen and removing carbon dioxide). An over abundance or these cells creates a sticky environment conducive to forming blood clots—which can lead to a heart attack.
The heart is not the only organ affected by smoking. It infiltrates the whole body—and, ultimately, every body function has a connection with the heart. I might look into some of these, but the focus for this post was how smoking interacted with cholesterol to affect heart health. I’ve shown the relationship to be significant. And, the only way I understand to diminish the influence is to quit smoking. (There is a lot of information on the web and from anti-smoking organizations about how quickly a body begins to restore itself after a person quits smoking.)
Smoking exacerbates the buildup of cholesterol in arterial walls. It causes the heart to work harder and slowly poisons it. It is detrimental to a healthy heart.
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