The human body is far more resilient than most people think and even though combustible cigarette smoking is the primary cause of preventable disease in the United States, that doesn’t mean that vital organs can’t bounce back in a user’s post-smoking life. With the help of the best e-cigs to quit smoking, ex-smokers are finally starting to take control of their nicotine intake, which is an empowering way to reinstate some normalcy to their health. But how long does it take your heart to return to normal post-combustibles?
How does smoking combustible cigarettes affect your cardiovascular health?
Our lungs take in oxygen which is then delivered to the heart, allowing it to pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body through blood vessels. However, when someone constantly breathes in combustible cigarette smoke, the blood being distributed throughout the body becomes contaminated with the chemicals commonly found in tobacco products. These chemicals are damaging to your heart and blood vessels, and over time, can lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD).
What is CVD and how does combustible cigarette smoking affect this condition?
CVD is an umbrella term for a variety of conditions that affect the functioning of the heart or blood vessels. Some of these conditions include:
- Coronary heart disease
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Aneurysm
- Peripheral artery disease
In addition to the damage above, combustible cigarette smoking can also cause CVD by changing the chemistry of your blood and causing plaque—a waxy substance that’s composed of cholesterol, scar tissue, calcium, fat, and other materials—to build up in the arteries and the heart’s major blood vessels. There are also other rare, but possible, cardiovascular conditions that are caused by excess smoking including, peripheral artery disease (a condition where insufficient blood flow can result in amputation) or abdominal aortic aneurysm (a bulge in the heart’s aorta that can burst and cause sudden death).
How can you protect your heart?
While one of the best ways to protect your heart from any smoking-related disease is to stop using cigarettes, even those who have smoked can better their heart health by quitting as soon as possible.
Here is how quickly your heart starts to repair itself:
- 20 minutes after you quit smoking, your heart rate drops.
- 12 hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide levels in your blood return to normal, allowing more oxygen to flow to your vital organs through your heart.
- Within four years of quitting, your risk of stroke drops to that of a nonsmoker.
Since quitting smoking is difficult for some, many ex-smokers rely on nicotine replacement therapies to aid them on their quitting journey. While many successfully use nicotine gum or lozenges, most need a product that can fulfill their mental dependence as well as their physical dependence on smoking. That’s why e-cigs are such a popular quitting tool. Since everyone is different, we can’t outright say what the best e-cig to quit smoking is, but we can recommend all three of our Logic products based on feedback from our many satisfied customers and reviews.
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