"Smoking's Damage Swift and Ireversible"

I remember when I first started smoking when I was in college. I did it to look cool and appear older when we went on gimmick with my friends. Peer pressure and culture shock of college life. We had this feeling of being invincible because we were young and felt we could do anything. Recent studies however shows that smoking even 1 stick can cause irreversible damage to the arteries. It stiffens instead of its normal elasticity as reported  recently in WebMD Health News Oct. 27, 2009. The study showed that 1 stick of smoking stiffened the arteries of 18-30 year old smokers by 25% after teadmill exercise test. In non-smokers, it dropped to 3.6%.

Normally, arteries dilate during exercise to accommodate for the increase in the metabolic requirements of the body. It dilates so more blood with the oxygen and nutrients goes to the muscles in an efficient, optimal manner. Smoking apparently stiffens the arteries as reported and the effect of this is the muscles gets tired easily due to accumulation of lactic acid.

Also stated in the report is that if you stop smoking, the elasticity becomes better compared to continued smoking but it will never return to normal.

So, we were not invincible after all. I will never have a normal artery compared to my high school or elementary years. So my advise to you people, stop smoking and start living healthy.