Can Smoking Cigarettes Increase Blood Pressure?

Smoking cigarettes is pretty much one of the worst habits you can pick up. Unfortunately, many people start smoking cigarettes early in life and the habit becomes quite difficult to stop. On the other hand, it is also good to know that more and more people are quitting cigarettes right now more than ever and that less people are taking up smoking at all. Smoking areas used to be available pretty much everywhere in the 80’s and 90’s and now places that do allow smoking is harder to find.

The Risks of Smoking

The dangers of smoking have been well-documented and the list of medical conditions that can develop as a result of smoking cigarettes is long and concise; let’s name a few in case you’re not familiar with them: stroke, blindness, cataracts, periodontitis, pneumonia, coronary heart disease, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, emphysema, cancer. The list goes on and on, and if you are still not convinced you should know that smoking cigarettes is now the leading preventable cause of death in the United States as almost half a million people die each year from a condition associated with smoking. In fact, cigarettes kill more people than AIDS, drug overdoses, alcohol, car accidents and firearm related accidents combined.

Smoking and Increased Blood Pressure

Let’s go back to that list of conditions and analyze it for a second; now think about the conditions that are typically associated with increased blood pressure levels. Notice a trend? Smoking is one of the main causes behind high blood pressure as the nicotine found in cigarette smoke narrows the arteries and narrows the vessel walls while making it easier for blood to clot. The large number of chemicals found in cigarettes like tar and arsenic also put a huge amount of stress on the heart which causes it to work at a increased rate, thus increasing the amount of stress the heart has to deal with on a daily basis.

Another thing to consider is the fact that the large number of chemicals found in typical cigarettes and other nicotine products like cigars, pipes, hookahs and even vaporizers can cause a lot of damage to artery walls over an extended period of time as the lining on them degrades quickly. This of course, can lead to some other dangerous conditions like a heart attack or a blood clot. The evidence linking smoking and using tobacco products to cardiovascular problems is simply irrefutable and the conditions deriving from smoking can definitely create a spike in blood pressure levels which can prove to be deadly over an extended period of time. A study conducted in 2008 by the HSE seems to confirm this information after testing over 50,000 and finding that people who smoked more than 4 cigarettes a day showed significantly increased chances of developing circulatory problems.

How to Stop Smoking

If you or someone you know is trying to quit smoking there are several treatments available out there for people looking to get rid of this nasty vice. If you ask us, we think that the best way to go about it is to simply quit cold turkey, though some people will definitely find this difficult to do as nicotine is one of the most addicting substances out there and some people even compare its addictive power to that of some opiates like heroine or morphine. Those looking to improve their blood pressure levels after quitting smoking should know that a natural blood pressure supplement, like PD120 can be extremely effective when it comes to helping maintain healthy blood pressure levels in order to avoid some of the side effects of smoking.

While the trends today indicate that less and less people are becoming smokers and that more people are quitting this vice, it is still good to know that people are aware of the dangers associated with smoking, especially when we take into consideration the fact that smoking kills, and given the clear link that has been found between heart conditions, smoking and high blood pressure levels, we can educate people on the benefits of quitting smoking.