Shilpa Kshatriya, MD
Everyone knows that smoking causes lung disease but it also causes heart disease, strokes and aneurysms.
Smokers have a 2 to 4 times higher risk of heart attacks than non- smokers and female smokers have a higher risk of a heart attack than male smokers despite using the same number of cigarettes. Even smoking 1 cigarette a day increases the risk of heart disease 3 times compared to nonsmokers. Second- hand smoking also increases your risk of having a heart attack by 30%..
If you quit you can drop your risk of heart disease by 50% after a year.
Strategies to QUIT Smoking:
- Set a Quit Date and sign a NO-SMOKING CONTRACT in front of witnesses like friends and family
- Choose a method for quitting
- “cold turkey”—stop smoking all at once on your Quit Day
- Gradually reduce the number of cigarettes each day until you stop smoking completely
- Decide whether you would like to try medicines to help you quit
- Talk to your doctor about your desire to quit
- Join a smoking cessation program
- Make a list of activities you can do instead of smoking
- Stop smoking in certain situations, i.e. after lunch, during your work break
