Blood pressure and smoking

Smoking and heart conditions

Stopping smoking is one of the best things you can do for your heart. It can help lower your blood pressure and protect your health. Quitting is hard, but there is lots of help available. If you smoke and have high blood pressure, you are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.

How smoking harms your heart and blood pressure

Every time you smoke a cigarette:

• your blood pressure goes up
• your heart beats faster
• over time, smoking causes serious harm to your body
• it makes your blood vessels narrow and stiff
• it raises the chance of blood clots
• it reduces oxygen in your blood, so your heart must work harder
• it makes high blood pressure worse

How your body gets better when you quit

• After 20 minutes your heart rate and blood pressure start to go down
• After 2–3 days food tastes better, smells are stronger. Nicotine starts to leave your body
• After 1 year your risk of a heart attack is half what it was
• After 10 years your risk of lung cancer is half that of a smoker

Other benefits

• You breathe easier
• You feel more energy
• Your skin looks better
• Your breath is fresher and teeth are cleaner
• You get fewer colds
• Your sex drive and fertility may improve
• You protect your family from smoke

What’s in a cigarette?

Cigarettes have over 4,000 harmful chemicals. These are some of the most dangerous:

• Nicotine - makes you addicted and raises blood pressure
• Tar - causes cancer and lung disease
• Carbon monoxide - a poisonous gas that takes oxygen out of your blood
• Other poisons like arsenic, lead and ammonia

These can damage nearly every part of your body.

There is also the risk to others through second-hand smoke. It hurts others too. Breathing in smoke from other people’s cigarettes is called passive smoking. It is also harmful.

• It raises the chance of cancer, stroke and heart disease
• It can make children sick - causing asthma, chest infections and ear problems
• Children living in a smoking home are twice as likely to become seriously ill
• Quitting smoking protects the people around you

How to stop smoking

Stopping smoking is hard - but many people do it. You can too. Tips to help you quit:

• Pick a date to stop smoking -and stick to it
• Tell friends, family and workmates so they can support you
• Plan what to do when you feel like smoking
• Do something else after meals - —like go for a walk
• Keep your hands and mouth busy - —chew gum, use a straw or sip a drink
• Remind yourself why you want to stop

Get help to quit:

You are four times more likely to stop if you get support. You don’t have to do it alone. The sooner you stop, the better you’ll feel.

Sources of help:

• NHS Stop Smoking Services – one-to-one, group, phone or online support
• The NHS better health website accessed using this link better health - NHS
• Yes to quit website accessed using this link  
• Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) – patches, gum, sprays, lozenges, or inhalers
• Medicines from your doctor – like Champix (varenicline) or Zyban (bupropion)
• NHS Smokefree Helpline (England) – call 0300 123 1044
• British Heart Foundation Heart Helpline – [add website link]
• Your local pharmacy or doctor – for advice and prescriptions

Make today the day you stop. You’ll feel better and live longer.

Additional information

The NHS webpages provide lots of information and support for those stopping smoking which can be accessed using this link.

Sign Health: The Deaf Healthy Charity provide some information in a video about stopping smoking that can be accessing using this link to their website.

Watch the British Heart Foundation: how smoking affects your heart on YouTube using this link.