Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Here’s why.Factors like high blood pressure can stretch out the arteries and cause scarring. Bad cholesterol, called LDL, often gets lodged in the scar tissue and combines with white blood cells to form clots. The good cholesterol, called HDL, helps keep the LDL from sticking and building up.Here are some other problems smoking causes:Smoking robs you of some of your good cholesterol. Smoking temporarily raises your blood pressure.Smoking increases the blood’s clotting likelihood.Smoking makes it more difficult to exercise.Although cigarette smoking alone increases your risk of coronary heart disease, it greatly increases risk to your whole cardiovascular system. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.
