Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although millions of people have quit smoking, many more remain addicted. One of the reasons for cigarette addiction is a general lack of understanding of the complexity of the tobacco habit.
Physical Addiction
Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, according to the American Cancer Society. Nicotine is the chemical responsible for tobacco's addictive pull. Nicotine increases alertness, decreases appetite, releases adrenaline and causes nervousness. It also stimulates the brain's chemical reward system. If you are addicted to nicotine, your body has become accustomed to these effects, and your attempts to quit result in withdrawal symptoms.
Psychological Dependency
For many smokers, smoking is a psychological coping mechanism. If you smoke, you may use tobacco to manage stress, to reward yourself for small accomplishments, to deal with loneliness, or to kill time while engaged in boring activities such as waiting in line. Some smokers rely on nicotine's stimulant effects to spark creativity or to enhance their enjoyment of other activities.
Force of Habit
A third dimension of tobacco dependency is force of habit. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, you are reinforcing your habit 20 times a day. Force of habit is responsible for many of the "smoking triggers" that you will have to manage if you want to quit. People smoke while drinking alcohol or coffee, while working, after meals, immediately after waking up in the morning, or while reading or watching television. You may have to avoid some of these activities while you are trying to quit smoking.
Withdrawal
To quit smoking, you will have to overcome three dependencies at once: physical, psychological and habitual. The most intense phase of nicotine's physical withdrawal symptoms are over within 72 hours. In most cases, the psychological and habitual dependencies persist for far longer. Typical physical withdrawal symptoms include tingling in the hands and feet, headaches and coughing. You may also experience moodiness, irritability, loneliness, depression and confusion. You may have flashes of anger for no apparent reason, difficulty concentrating and fatigue combined with insomnia. The most serious withdrawal symptom caused by psychological dependency is the periodic craving for tobacco. These cravings are most severe during the first few days after quitting, although they usually reappear occasionally for several months. Withdrawal from habitual dependency will cause you to want a cigarette when any of your "habit triggers" are activated. In some such cases, a habit trigger may result in a full-blown craving.
References
- SmokeFreedom.net: Aspects of the Smoking Habit
- Psychology Today: Smoking and the Thrill-Seeking Gene
- QuitSmokingSupport.com: Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms & Recovery
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Tobacco Use
- WhyQuit: Nicotine Withdrawal & Recovery Symptoms
- American Cancer Society: Secondhand Smoke
