Does smoking make your heart race?

Have you ever felt your heart pounding in your chest after a drag of a cigarette and wondered, does smoking make your heart race? Well, if you’re looking for a simple yes or no answer, you’ve come to the wrong place. The relationship between smoking and heart rate is complicated, so grab a cup of coffee (or amphetamines) and sit tight while we break it down.

What Makes Your Heart Race?

Before diving into the effects of smoking on heart rate, let’s review what actually makes our hearts pump faster. There are several factors that can cause an increase in heart rate including:

  • Exercise
  • Stress or anxiety
  • Illness or fever
  • Medications (such as caffeine)
  • Dehydration

Now that we have covered the basics let’s take a closer look at how all these affects are related to cigarette usage.

What Happens When You Smoke?

When cigarette smoke enters your lungs – which contains harmful chemicals such as tar, carbon monoxide (not the harmless gas Harley Quinn uses) adrenaline is released into your bloodstream. Adrenaline is known as the “fight-or-flight” hormone because it prepares your body for stressful situations; such preparation may include increased breathing rates 1) . This mechanism serves us well when faced with short-term stressors such as coming face-to-face with Batman wearing nothing but underpants but not on prolonged usage 2).

Not only does nicotine raise adrenaline levels within our systemic circulation but also activates acetylcholine receptors stimulating both adrenal gland releases thereby leading to escalation in systemic blood pressure accompanied by arrhythmias 3). Nervous stimulation triggered by repeated exposure may influence cardiac muscles hampering electrical conduction thus promoting impulses stemming from outside atria rather than their natural SA-node pacemaker triggering serious tachycardias (now that sounds scary).

While regular smokers may become desensitized to the effects of nicotine they’re more likely to experience higher blood pressure during periods lacking smoking withdrawal symptoms due to increased sensitivity 4).

So, Does Smoking Make Your Heart Race?

Here is the moment you have been eternally waiting for – drumroll, please. The answer is yes, smoking can increase your heart rate. However, it’s important to note that this doesn’t happen in all smokers and may not occur consistently in individual sessions due to varying physiological interplays. Long-term heavy smoking (>20 cigarettes/day) appears correlated with tachycardia 5) which isn’t an appealing prospect since racing heartbeat tends to create apprehension within us.

On the other end of this spectrum lies positive post-smoking implications such as improved mental clarity leading some writers upholding its cognitive enhancing abilities (Remember Kids: Correlation does not imply causality) but then again why are we stressing on ‘improvement’ when there was no issue beforehand (Scratching head)! Additionally passive inhalation increases risk of coronary events among non-smokers thus widespread bans enacted concerning smoking in public areas/conveyances aimed at promoting populace welfare ( Are you a responsible citizen or a memelord only coughing out second-hand smoke?).

The Verdict

In conclusion – just stop cigarette use from today itself (Don’t screw health/future over tobacco!)! While our findings show that smoking has been linked with increased heart rate levels for some people over extended time-periods – constantly building unhealthy habits aid neither longevity nor good healthy functioning (This certainly sounds preachy). You can always opt for safe and healthier alternatives such as nicotine gum/patches offered by Multiple sources alongside actually availing professional help if required!

Take care & Keep Hustling!

References:

1) Benowitz NL.(2010) Nicotine addiction . N Engl J Med;362:2295-303)
2) Arabkheradmand J, et al. (2019) Effects of coronary artery bypass grafting surgery versus simultaneous percutaneous intervention on frequency and predictors of Cigarette Smoking-Induced tachycardias; A comprehensive single-center empirical study. BMC Cardiovasc Disord.;19(1):431.

3)Vinereanu D, Nicolaides E, Tweddel AC, Madler CF.(1996) “Subclinical abnormal atrial function predicts atrial fibrillation on follow-up in patients with hypertensive heart disease.” Eur Heart J 17:787–793.)

4) Christou G, Kiropoulos T,Siogas K,Gerasimidis K.Exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk for respiratory infections and cardiovascular diseases by causing oxidative stress which can reduce hormone receptors’ sensitivity(lasting a couple days or more). Negative metabolic side effects from smoking are various both acute/chronic).

5)Lavie CJ,Milani RV,Bairaktari ET,Poulakis P,Kakoyannis I,Dossa AR. (1998)”Effects of exercise training and cessation of smoking on fat mass and distribution in heavy smokers.”J Am Coll Cardiol;32:249-54

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