Don't Smoke or Stop if You Do

If you smoke, quitting smoking is the single most effective step you can take to prevent a heart attack. An estimated 35% of all coronary artery disease (CAD) deaths (about 152,000 each year) in the United States are directly attributable to smoking. Substances in cigarette smoke - such as nicotine and carbon monoxide - not only reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood but also promote the development of atherosclerosis and the formation of blood clots. Smoking more than doubles your chance of eventually having a heart attack and increases the chance of dying of a heart attack by 70%. Smoking is also the leading cause of sudden cardiac death. In addition, it’s estimated that about 35,000 nonsmoking Americans die each year from heart disease because of second-hand smoke - that is, exposure to other people’s smoke. The good news is that fifteen years after quitting, your risk of CAD declines to that of people who never smoked, regardless of how long you smoked. That amazing fact alone should be incentive enough to do your body a favor and quit.

How to Stop Smoking

There are many tools available to help smokers quit, including smoking cessation programs and hotlines, nicotine replacement products, and prescription drugs that help reduce cravings and other symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. In May 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved varenicline (brand name: Chantix), a new prescription drug that targets sites in the brain affected by nicotine. Taken for up to 12 weeks, Chantix provides some of the effects of nicotine to ease withdrawal symptoms and also blocks the effects of nicotine if smokers trying to quit resume smoking. Several companies are also developing a “stop smoking” vaccine, which produces antibodies that bind to nicotine and keep much of it from entering the brain, reducing the sensations it provides for smokers.