Smoking puts you at higher risk of heart disease and stroke five fold.

Nebraska Heart Institute Cardiologist, Dr. Douglas Netz will be the first to tell you to drop the cigarettes.

He says heart disease is a major problem that results from smoking.

"Coronary artery disease which is the number one killer in the United States and stroke which is the number 3 killer are directly related to smoking in a lot of patients," said Dr. Netz.

"So the progression of atherosclerosis, or laying down of plaque, is significantly more prominent in a persons heart who has been smoking than one who has not," added Netz.

Cigarettes cause more problems. According to the American Heart Association, smoking robs you of some of your good cholesterol, it could raise your blood pressure, increase blood clots and make it more difficult to exercise.

"When you look at people that smoke they almost always have more health problems than people who don't smoke," Netz said.

He says while it's best just not to start, it's never too late to quit.

"It's very helpful to quit. There are changes that will occur very shortly after quitting. Longitudinally after months and years those changes reduce significantly," Netz said.

Quitting is no easy feat. Dr. Netz said 70% of people who smoke want to quit and 30% do not want to quit.
He said finding what motivates you or trying different medicines could help to quit.