If you are someone who smokes and you'd like to quit, you know that giving up cigarettes entirely is not always easy. For that reason, some people believe that simply cutting back on the number of cigarettes they smoke per day is enough. But studies have shown that this isn't the case – just one cigarette a day can increase your cardiovascular risk.

The harmful chemicals in cigarettes can wreak havoc on your cardiovascular health. When you smoke, these chemicals cause the cells lining blood vessels to become inflamed and swollen. The blood also thickens, making it more likely for clots to form inside veins and arteries and increasing your risk of coronary heart disease as well as the risk of stroke and other serious conditions like peripheral arterial disease, which reduces blood flow to arms, hands, legs, and feet.

The health risks of smoking don't stop there. The chemicals taken in from cigarettes can also inhibit immune system function and lead to many types of cancer and other diseases, including:

• Aortic aneurysm
• Aortic aneurysm
• Cancers, including lung, esophageal, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, liver, bladder, and pancreatic cancer 
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

For these reasons, smoking is the number one cause of early, preventable death in the United States.

Although it might seem like reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke would be beneficial to your health, no safe level of smoking exists. According to a 2018 study, which involved data from millions of participants in 141 different studies, smoking even one cigarette per day carries significant consequences for your health.

The massive study revealed that men who smoked one cigarette per day had a 46% of the extra risk of developing coronary heart disease than someone who smoked 20 cigarettes per day. Women who smoked one cigarette per day had 31% of excess risk. Men who smoked one per day compared to 20 per day also had a 41% risk for stroke, while women had a 34% risk for stroke.

These results indicate that the risks associated with smoking one cigarette a day are much higher than researchers previously believed. Even smoking a cigarette per week or just occasionally has negative health consequences, including higher risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other serious conditions.

When you quit smoking, you experience significant health benefits right away, including: 

• Your heart rate and blood pressure begin to lower immediately. 
• The level of carbon monoxide, which reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen, in the blood, begins to decline. 
• Within the first few weeks, you'll have improved circulation and reduced coughing and wheezing.
• Lung function improves within months.
• After a few years, you reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.