From each website I look at, I'll just copy and paste the main bits of information rather than the whole thing so that when I come back to reading over it I will already have the main points I need.
How people get addicted (link)
- Nicotine is one of the main ingredients in tobacco.
- Nicotine is a powerful drug that speeds up the brain and central nervous system. It triggers the release of a chemical in your brain (dopamine) that boosts your mood, makes you feel calm, and at the same time, can make you feel more alert.
- The nicotine level in your blood peaks within 10 seconds of inhaling (breathing in) cigarette smoke into your lungs.
- Over time, your brain adjusts to the stimulation ("buzz") from nicotine and lowers your natural energy level or mood. You may then start to crave a cigarette for a boost.
- Soon, your body craves nicotine to feel "normal."
- Being without nicotine for even a few hours can cause withdrawal symptoms like headaches, depression, anger, anxiety, and problems sleeping.
- Withdrawal symptoms last about a week for most people. You can cope with them by knowing what to expect and finding other ways to handle cravings before you quit. Withdrawal symptoms are a sign that your body is healing. They won't last forever.
- The other part of nicotine addiction is behaviour. After months or years of smoking, cigarettes become a part of your daily life. You may light a cigarette out of habit as soon as you get into the car or when you drink a cup of coffee.
- Smoking habits can also be formed by the way you feel - many smokers reach for a cigarette when they feel bored, stressed or angry.
Why is smoking addictive? (link)
- Nicotine alters the balance of chemicals in your brain. It mainly affects chemicals called dopamine and noradrenaline.
- When you inhale the nicotine, it immediately rushes to your brain where it takes effect.
- The more you smoke, the more your brain becomes used to the nicotine. This means that you have to smoke more to get the same effect.
- It’s normal to crave nicotine when you quit, as smoking provides an immediate fix to these problems.
How people get addicted to smoking (link)
- Nicotine is the drug in cigarettes, and all tobacco products, that make smoking so addictive.
- Nicotine is so powerful that the scant 1 to 2 mg a smoker inhales from each cigarette is enough to turn into an addiction,
- Physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are most severe the first few days without a cigarette,
- Some people continue to crave a cigarette at times when they used to always smoke one, like right after eating or while drinking alcohol
- The entire ritual of smoking, from lighting it to inhaling the last puff, is another intense longing that often lingers. Cravings are one of the top reasons people fail at quitting smoking.
Smoking: How to stop (link)
- The reason why so many people fail to stop is because they are addicted. Being addicted does not mean that you cannot stop - only that it is likely to be difficult.
- Only you know what you have to give up, and how the benefits of smoking can be weighed against the benefits of stopping.
- Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. It is absorbed and enters the bloodstream, through the lungs when smoke is inhaled, and through the lining of the mouth (buccal mucosa) when tobacco is chewed or used as oral snuff or for non-inhaled pipe and cigar smoking.
- Nicotine is a psychoactive drug with stimulant effects on the electrical activity of the brain.
- It also has calming effects, especially at times of stress, as well as effects on hormonal and other systems throughout the body.
- Many of the unpleasant effects of cigarette withdrawal are due to lack of nicotine and are reversed or alleviated by nicotine replacement (for example, nicotine chewing gum or the nicotine patch).
- With repeated nicotine dosage the body adapts to what it regards as extra acetylcholine in an attempt to restore normal function. One way it does this is to grow more acetylcholine receptors.
- Thus nicotine induces structural as well as functional changes in the brain of smokers. When nicotine is suddenly withdrawn, physiological functions in the brain and other parts of the body are disturbed. This is known as withdrawal syndrome. It takes time for the body to readjust to functioning normally without nicotine.
- The situations and activities associated with smoking, together with the smoker's mood and psychological state at the time, also become linked with its rewards and with the relief of withdrawal.
- Triggers that bring on the urge to smoke are numerous because smoking can take place in so many situations.
What makes tobacco so addictive? (link)
- Nicotine is a stimulant that causes us to temporarily feel good or energized.
- It also causes the release of natural chemicals in our brain called beta-endorphins. These chemicals cause us to feel more alert and calm.
- The problem is that nicotine isn't stored in the body so these effects last only a few minutes. We need to absorb more and more nicotine to make the effects last.
- First, nicotine provides a bigger boost than chocolate or a cup of coffee. Perhaps most importantly, nicotine passes into our brains much more quickly than most other substances.
- Nicotine enters your brain within 10 seconds of taking a puff on a cigarette. This rapid delivery of nicotine means that we develop a strong association between using tobacco and the feelings it brings.
- Smoking is also a learned behaviour.
- For example, over a one year period, a one-pack a day smoker will take a puff more than 70,000 times. We begin to learn or associate things such as the way we hold or light a cigarette or take it out of the package with the pleasant feelings or sense of relief that it brings us.
- Because smoking often requires us to take a break from our daily duties, we may also learn to associate smoking with the temporary relief of worry, tension, boredom or fatigue.
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