10 health-related reasons to quit smoking

Both the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the American Heart Association say quitting smoking is an important step toward better health. In fact, quitting is probably the most important action you can take to reduce your risk of a heart attack and stroke and can add years to your life.

In the US, one in five deaths from cardiovascular disease is linked to smoking. And, while tobacco use causes the early deaths of 47,000 Canadians a year, secondhand smoke is also a risk factor, especially for strokes.

Here are 10 reasons why you should quit smoking.

Like most people, you probably want to live a long, fulfilling and active life. So if you smoke cigarettes, consider for a moment the extensive harm that smoking is doing to your body:

1. It damages the lining of your arteries and increases the buildup of sticky plaque which, over time, can clog arteries throughout your body.
2. It raises levels of fibrinogen and platelets in the blood, increasing the tendency of blood to clot.
3. It causes 9 in 10 cases of lung cancer and increases the risk of more than a dozen other cancers, including cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, bladder and cervix.
4. It raises the risk of dangerous swellings of arteries, or aneurysms.
5. If you also have diabetes, it heightens the risk of cardiovascular disease — to which you're already susceptible.
6. It increases the risk of developing diabetic kidney disease or peripheral arterial disease so severe, that you may need to have the affected limb amputated.
7. It increases levels of total and "bad" LDL cholesterol, but lowers"good" HDL cholesterol.
8. It promotes an outpouring of the "fight-or-flight" stress hormone adrenaline, increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, so that your heart has to work much harder.
9. It exposes you to a high intake of carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that reduces the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen. This makes angina (chest pain during exercise) more likely.
10. It changes your body shape: Smoking alters body fat distribution to a less healthy pattern with more abdominal fat and a higher waist-to-hip ratio.

If you're thinking about quitting smoking (or in the middle of quitting) remember these 10 health-related reasons to help motivate you.