Why is smoking even one cigarette a day still harmful to health?

If possible, you should quit completely, instead of "smoking less" to "help with craving".

On January 24, the British Medical Journal published the results of a new study showing that smokers who have even one cigarette a day have a high incidence of coronary heart disease (Coronary Heart Disease). - CHD) and the stroke is amazingly high. This is also the first study to synthesize results from other studies on smoking and cardiovascular disease - a total of 141 studies, with data of nearly 13 million people.

Dangerous

According to the head of the research, Dr. Allan Hackshaw, deputy director of UCL Cancer Research Center at University College London, the results made him and his colleagues feel very surprised."Many of us often think that, if we smoke a cigarette instead of 20 (the number of cigarettes that are usually in a bag) we will have only one in 20. This is completely not right, " he said.

Men who smoke a cigarette every day have a 48% higher incidence of CHD than those who have never smoked.

Compared to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, reduce to one cigarette, it is true that it reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease and stroke by half, but "half" is still very significant. Men who smoke a cigarette every day have 48% higher rates of CHD than non-smokers, and 57% of women. In addition, in both men and women, the rate of stroke increased by about 30%.

In other words: Any contact with cigarettes is too much.

"People who smoke often aim to quit smoking, instead of cutting down on their daily consumption to avoid an increased risk of cardiovascular disease," Hackshaw recommends.

A worrying trend

The findings of this new study are particularly interesting when cutting down rather than eliminating tobacco is becoming a trend. For example, people in the United States who smoke less than 10 times a day increase from 16% to 27% in 2005-2014. The proportion of smokers in the UK who consume between one and five cigarettes a day has increased steadily from 18% to 24% during the period 2009-2014.

Of course, smoking less will definitely be more beneficial than smoking, but if compared to giving up, that "benefit" is really too small."The non-linear relationship between CHD and the consumption of cigarettes is often not known to the public or medical professionals, especially those who do not have tobacco or health expertise, " Hackshaw said. more.

For example, in a study conducted in 2015 involving nearly 25,000 teenagers in the United States published in Pediatrics, only 35% of "low" smokers - with the amount of cigarettes consumed. Less than 10 cigarettes a day - think their habits are "harmful to health".

How is it harmful to the heart?

Smoking is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease, according to Steve Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA."A lot of people think that smoking is associated with lung cancer, but actually the heart is also affected and cardiovascular diseases are the biggest cause of death , " he explained.

For example, one study found that about two-thirds of CHD deaths from smokers are due to their habits.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking affects the heart in many different ways. The chemicals in smoke make swollen cells appear swollen and inflamed, leading to narrowing of blood vessels. These chemicals also form blood clots inside veins and arteries. Both of these can cause smokers to have a heart attack or stroke.

Not only the lungs, the heart is also the organ affected by the harmful effects of tobacco.

In addition, Mr. Hackshaw also said that sequelaes caused by smoking left often happen very quickly, after only a few years. However, this is also good news for smokers, as this also means that their risk of cardiovascular disease will decrease quickly, once they quit smoking. According to CDC, even long-term smokers will see rapid improvement in health. In one year, the rate of heart attack decreased significantly; In five years, most smokers reduce the rate of strokes to the same level as non-smokers.

Eliminate harmful habits

If you want to quit smoking completely, it is helpful to gradually reduce the amount of cigarettes consumed each day. In fact, quitting immediately proved to be very inefficient: only about 3-6% of smokers quit immediately still after a year.

Albert Rizzo, senior medical advisor of the American Lung Disease Association, said people should combine various methods to quit smoking, such as reducing the number of cigarettes smoked, to health counseling sessions, finding The alternative to nicotine and medication support is prescribed by doctors. The less you smoke, the easier it is to quit smoking."When you drop to just one cigarette a day, this is a struggle between you and your bad habit, not because of the addiction to nicotine. The amount of nicotine consumed at that time is too low." he said.

To completely eliminate this habit, you can find other alternatives to "hand-to-mouth" behavior when craving drugs like sucking or sucking on a lollipop. In addition, you can also make yourself forget about craving with activities such as walking, chatting with friends or reading newspapers. For more help in quitting, the American Lung Association provides a lot of information for free at the Lung.org website.