Nicotine addiction- the facts

When you first took your first puff of a cigarette little did you know that you would become an addict. Some people refer to addicts as being drug users and alcoholics but nicotine addiction is just as bad as any other addiction as it alters your central nervous system in exactly the same way. If you go for a few hours without a cigarette you will find you begin to get withdrawal symptoms, these can be very similar to a drug addicts symptoms when they need a “hit”. Nicotine is a drug and your “hit” its a cigarette. This happens very easily and most people don’t even realise that they are addicted until it is too late but the one this you can do is quit. Quitting is hard but it can be done and has been done successfully by thousand of people every year.

So how does nicotine become so addictive? Well when you inhale the smoke from the burning nicotine into your lungs it enters your blood stream which then gives it access to all of your body including your brain. Nicotine is a stimulant, it makes your blood pressure rise, your heart beat faster and the stress that you felt will just simply disappear. Some people believe that smoking is a stress buster when in fact it is a stress creator for your whole body.

The addiction that you get from nicotine can be as dangerous and evil as taking heroine, ice and the longer your smoke for the more nicotine gets into your brain which is called receptors. These receptors are what react when your nicotine levels drop below the required level which then triggers you to reach for another cigarette. This is a vicious cycle and the longer you have smoked for the deeper those receptors have implanted themselves into your central nervous system.

When you smoke these receptors signal to your brain to produce serotonin and dopamine which is the bodies own hormones that create pleasure sensations. So you associate smoking with pleasure because of this. So when you try and quit your nicotine receptors go into overdrive in a “backwards” effect. You become nasty, irritable, angry, moody and snappy. Stopping smoking can lead to weight gain as well because your mind feels the need to replace these feelings of pleasure by eating which then releases the serotonin and dopamine hormones into your system. In a way a form of short term fix but it take a lot more than a bar of chocolate to fix your nicotine cravings.

You will feel depressed, anxious even lethargic all because the receptors are crying out for their nicotine fix. This does and will fade over time and you need to be prepared for these feelings that will come when you try and quit. It is best not to go cold turkey as such and use aids such as nicotine patches that will help reduce your nicotine craving slowly so that the receptors have time to diminish in strength. You will need will power as well to help you beat this addiction and to be honest most people do fail during their first attempt to stop smoking if they have been smoking for a while but don’t give up, keep trying and you will get there and the rewards are far greater than the addiction and health hazards.