Sudden death syndrome is like something out of a horror movie. It comes at you out of the blue. Everything seems to be fine. One moment you enjoy your time, feel happy and relaxed, and the next one you are no more.

What Is Sudden Death Syndrome?

Smoking and sudden death syndrome have been linked for a very long time. This syndrome is called this way because it is an event, when a person who had no prior history of heart disease, who feels good and doesn’t seem to have any health issues suddenly dies.

Sudden death occurs due to heart attack. A loss of heart function is the largest cause of death in the US. Right now only 17 percent of population in the US smokes so maybe smoking has nothing to do with sudden death syndrome. ​

Smoking Damages Every Single Cell in Your Body

Smoking cigarettes robs you of precious years. We only have so much time and smoking on average cuts life expectancy by 10 years. That’s ten years you could spend exploring the world, learning new skills, relaxing, watching your kids and grandkids grow and enjoying yourself.

It’s not only about how many years you lose. It’s about quality as well. If you continue smoking not only are you going to die earlier but your final years will be miserable. Most people leave this world due to heart failure but smokers stand out in this statistic. Smoking damages not only lungs. Smoking damages every single cell in your body.

How Smoking Damages Your Heart

Every time you take out cigarette pack you see those warnings and one of them is about heart disease. Have you ever thought about how does your smoking influence your heart? I looked hundreds of times at those warnings but I must admit that I never actually took time to think about that. ​

Cigarette smoke contains huge quantities of toxic chemicals. These chemicals make your blood vessels rigid, inflamed and this promotes the buildup of dangerous plaque that can raise blood pressure and eventually rupture. This triggers heart attack. ​

No Amount is Safe

Even a single cigarette a day raises your risk of dying due to sudden death syndrome. Naturally, the more you smoke and the longer you continue to do that – the greater the risk.

​Studies established a clear connection between smoking and heart failure. Sure, non-smokers also suffer from this issue but it makes all the difference in the world when do these issues arise and how much at risk are you. Research has actually calculated how your smoking habits put you at risk of sudden death syndrome.

​Great news is that quitting smoking cigarettes has shown to be an effective solution. You won’t be surprised to learn that you gain most by quitting earlier but at first lets learn about the risk you needlessly put yourself into by continuing to feed your nicotine addiction.

Smokers Are Three Times as Likely to Die Suddenly

Massive 30 year long study followed 101 018 women. These women had no documented heart disease history at the start of the study. All participating women were divided into three categories according to the amount of cigarettes they smoked daily. First group smoked 1 to 14 cigarettes a day, moderate group went through 15 to 24 and those who smoked over 25 cigarettes a day were considered heavy smokers.

Which group can you attribute yourself to?

Over 30 years, 351 women died of sudden heart attacks. As you might imagine, heaviest smokers suffered heaviest loses. Heavy smokers were three times as likely to die due to sudden death syndrome as compared to non-smokers. Light smokers didn’t fare much better as even light smoking makes you twice as likely to die suddenly.

Quitting Smoking Reverses the Damage

That might not seem so much especially considering that for example 9 out of 10 lung cancers are due to smoking, but answer me this – would you fly a particular plane if you knew it was three or even two times more likely to crash compared to any other plane? Would you buy tires you knew they were twice as likely to burst? Of course you wouldn’t. So, why are you still smoking?

Study found that for every five years that participants continued smoking, risk of dying from a heart attack increased by 8 percent. Another finding has been even more important.

Damage caused by years of smoking is reversible. Study has found that quitting smoking, among other positive effects, has a clear and calculable positive effect on your risk to suffer from sudden death syndrome.

The Sooner You Quit The Better It Is

Unfortunately the effect was not immediate but that makes quitting now even more important. It takes time for your body to get rid of all the toxins you consumed with cigarette smoke over the years. It takes time for your body to repair the damage these toxins caused.

It takes 15 to 20 years for your body to recover and for your risk to suffer sudden death syndrome to be reduced to non-smoker levels. This is why it is so important to quit right now and not put it off. Quitting nicotine addiction is calculated to increase your life expectancy by 10 years.

You Can’t Afford To Put Quitting Off

It’s completely natural to put doing something off but quitting smoking is one thing which you can’t afford to put off. Nicotine addiction has no positive effect on you. It increases your stress and anxiety levels. It poisons your health, mental state and your relationships.

Realize that smoking doesn’t give you anything positive. It only takes. This realization will allow you to change your attitude towards your nicotine addiction. It is easy, quick and once you do that, you won’t quit – you will put down cigarette never to pick it up again because you just don’t want it anymore.

Steven Case is the author of the blog http://www.cigarettekills.com/ and books How To Quit Smoking: Ex-Smoker\’s Guide To an Easy, Quick and Permanent Way to Give Up Smoking and QUIT E-CIGARETTE: Eliminate Vaporizer From Your Life

Steven Case is the author of the blog http://www.cigarettekills.com/ and books How To Quit Smoking: Ex-Smoker\’s Guide To an Easy, Quick and Permanent Way to Give Up Smoking and QUIT E-CIGARETTE: Eliminate Vaporizer From Your Life

Author Bio: Steven Case is the author of the blog http://www.cigarettekills.com/ and books How To Quit Smoking: Ex-Smoker\’s Guide To an Easy, Quick and Permanent Way to Give Up Smoking and QUIT E-CIGARETTE: Eliminate Vaporizer From Your Life

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: sudden death syndrome, smoking Sudden Death Syndrome, quit smoking, nicotine addiction, quit