Why is it So Hard to Quit Smoking?
Smoking is emerging to be one of the major causes of death in the modern world. This is attributed to the growing consumers of tobacco. Tobacco is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults all over the world, which translates to around 5 million deaths every year. It is because of this fact that cigarette smoking is now a public health priority.
With the prevalence of cigarette smoking came its adverse health effects on its consumers. Smoking poses dangers directly and indirectly to the public. An indirect public health concern that cigarettes may pose is accidental fire. As for the health risks in smoking tobacco, the disease mainly strikes the cardiovascular system, resulting to heart attack, respiratory tract diseases, and even cancer.
In spite of these risks, the number of cigarette smokers all other the world has not dropped considerably. Though several smokers claim to have been meaning to quit this habit, they just find it so difficult. The fact is that after smoking for quite sometime, quitting smoking will prove to be very hard, but not impossible.
Why is it hard to quit smoking?
Foremost, this is because most smokers become addicted to the nicotine contained in tobacco products. Nicotine has a deadly addictive power. How? When a person puffs a cigarette, nicotine particles find their way to the lungs through inhalation.
From there, nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream just like the oxygen people breathe. It travels with the blood to the brain where it locks onto certain receptor areas. Dopamine is then released into the brain. This is the chemical that makes the smoker feel a euphoric sensation. Smokers find it difficult to quit because they come to be dependent on this good feeling. And in wanting to experience this repeatedly, this leads to dependence a sign of addiction.
A person who attempts to quit may experience withdrawal symptoms. Topping the bill of withdrawal symptoms is depression. With the absence of the chemical that produces the relaxing feeling, the brain becomes distressed without it. Other withdrawal symptoms from smoking include:
- Headaches, dizziness, and nausea
- Shakes, chills
- Cough, dry throat nasal drip
- Hunger, fatigue
- Constipation, gas or stomach pain
- Insomnia, troubled sleep
Not knowing what to do with their hands is another common complaint among ex-smokers while quitting. Once people get hooked, smoking becomes a big part of their lives. They seem to enjoy holding on a stick of cigarette and puffing on them. And after a long period of lighting up, it becomes a routine. As a fact, humans are creatures of habit. By some force of habit, smokers find themselves reaching for a cigarette and lighting it up automatically without thinking about it.
Certain triggers in the environment may also hamper a smoker’s desire to quit. Things may turn on a smoker’s need for a cigarette. These may be feelings, places, and moods. Even the things done routinely may trigger this craving for a smoke.
For those who have been smoking for quite a while already, they may not realize it but they form some emotional attachment to cigarettes. They find the cigarette calming and comforting during those stressful times. Cigarette smoking somehow becomes an extension of their social life, particularly when they are emotionally at the highest or lowest. Giving the smoker a feeling that giving up smoking would seem like giving up a trusted friend.
These are only some of the major reasons why it is hard to quit smoking. But there are also several strategies and quitting techniques that may aid smokers to finally give up on this tenacious habit. Quitting smoking all begins with one’s intention to stop. They must have the will power to overcome the craving for smoke. There are also a lot of quit smoking products in the market. These may also be worth trying. Support groups are proved to be very helpful, too.
Smokers must understand that to quit smoking may take more than one attempt. They must also try several methods before they can finally succeed. Smoking is a stubborn habit because it is closely tied to the acts in the course of people’s everyday lives. Even so, with determination, will power, and a strategy, to quit smoking is not out of the question.
Gaetane Ross
http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit-smoking-138799.html
Is it really as hard to quit smoking as ppl make out?
Well i’m 14, and my friend is trying to get me to smoke and i told her to get me one cos i really want to try one and look cool at school lol, but is it really as hard as ppl make out to quit once your addicted?
Yes, it’s extremely hard. I did it a few months ago. I succeeded, but it wasn’t easy or fun. I’d suggest never starting in the first place. It isn’t cool, trust me.
References :
Only for those who don’t really want to.
References :
Yes it is, don’t start I don’t think it looks cool at all. I’m a smoker, and I really wish I wasn’t.
References :
Yes it is very hard to stop.
References :
as your name says indeed it is! my father is trying to quit and is having a heck of a time. dont do it! no matter if it cool at school, thats killing yyourself, plus you have a higher risk for throaght cancer! CANCER!!
References :
Yes ive got friends who have been clean for years and they still get cravings, it never goes away and you become almost dependant on it if you smoke too much, besides you don’t actually look that cool when you smoke in my opinion it looks cheap and makes me feel sick just thinking about it.
References :
please save yourself and please please don’t start
it is not "cool" and yes it is very hard to quit my mom has been trying to quit ever since i was born and she now has lung cancer
please don’t
References :
im quiting now ive gone 5 days and its horrible
but i havent given in !
started smoking at 14 , im 16 now
References :
It’s HARD!!! You’d be way, WAY better off never doing it to begin with…why would you want to become addicted to something that you don’t even enjoy? Ask your friend there how she (or he) enjoyed that first cigarette? Cigarettes are something you actually have to work at to get addicted and by the time you realize how gross it is, you are already addicted.
References :
YES ! just give it a miss, it don’t make you look "cool" at all, it makes you smell ORRIBLE !
References :
It’s an addiction…I just quit a couple of weeks ago. It’s like a hunger pang that never goes away…you just need that bogey. Don’t start. It’s not worth it at all.
References :
yeah it is because your brain becomes addicted to the nicotine, and makes you feel like you need it and you can’t survive without it… it keeps feeling like that (I’m gonna die if I don’t get a smoke soon feeling) until you smoke so it’s extremely hard.
References :
Yes I’m 20 and when I was about 15 I got mixed up with the wrong crowd and started smoking, I was pressurized into doing it it just sort of happened. I have now quit for about a year after smoking for 4 and tried countless times inbetween to stop. So for me it was difficult especially as I was around smokers, but now Iv quit i rarely think about cigarettes and the smell actually makes me feel sick to my stomach.
References :
ARE YOU SERIOUS why do you want to start smoking Do not!!!!!!!!!!!
References :
Smoking is stupid and the furthest thing from cool. Visit stupid.ca, it has information on how smoking is superbly stupid.
Don’t start. You only have one body, and you have your health. Keep it that way.
References :
everyone always says you get addicted the first time which isnt true. i’ve done it many times and im not addicted. all of my friends smoke when their drunk stressed and stuff and none of them are addicted. if you wanna try it, go for it.. just don’t make it a habit.
References :
It really depends on the person. If your willing to stop once you had enough then you will be able to do it! And trust me darling! Smoking doesn’t make you look cool! It makes you look like a loser. Plus it gives you bad breath and smoking doesn’t even taste good so suggest you don’t try it but if you do then i hope you have the will to stop later on.
References :
im sorry but smoking is gross definetly NOT kwl do you not notice how ugly ppl get once they start smoking there lips get purple they get wrinkley faces!! gross see i want to be a model you definately cant smoke if you want to be beautiful!! but it is extremly hard to stop once you started my friend did it but it took her forever to stop but even now she looked totally way sexy before she started smoking that sh*t
References :
yep i wouldnt start, if you have to smoke to fit in and look cool u mite want some new friends but it took my mom 3 years b4 she could stop be careful
References :
Tis easier to never start than to give up once you’ve started..I gave up for 7 years but i never stopped wanting one during that time and eventually i started again..Sadly,i think as with alcoholics,once a smoker,always a smoker..You may just not have had one that day…………
References :
Don’t do it! Nicotine is a drug and yes, it is as hard to quit and any other drug related addiction. On top of that, you risk all types of cancer, emphysema, and other nasty things as you age. Your body was not made to inhale carbon monoxide and smoke on a regular basis. Resist the peer pressure, stand strong on your beliefts, and you will not regret it. A true friend will respect your choices. Your friends only smoke because they think it is a cool thing to do. They also think it is cool to have sex and drink and take drugs. These are all foolish things to do you will regret and will also cost you a ton of money as they continue to raise the tax on cigarettes constantly.
References :
Smoking isn’t cool at all. Its fun once in a while, but its very unattractive and will kill brain cells. You get lazier and stupider each time if u ask me…
If you’ve done it a couple times its easy to quit and better yourself, but if you do it constantly or on a daily it is hard to quit..you lose friends from smoking too.
I don’t recommend smoking at all or even hanging out with smokers, you have a better chance of following the wrong steps if you do
References :
it is always hard to quit. more importantly though, some people can quit but a lot more people simply fail and can’t quit. it depends on your mentality.
i honestly think that your mentality is not strong enough to be able to quitif you were to take up smoking. why do i think that? well if you were strong minded then you’d not give in to temptation and on top of that, simply to look cool. it would seem you have confidence issues and the only real way of addressing the look cool problem is to increase your confidence and esteem, a cigarette will increase neither of those. it will make you more dependent thereby decreasing any esteem.
in answer to your question… yes it is hard to quit. i’ve seem people fail miserably and them knowing they’ve failed effects their confidence and esteem
References :
hahhahaah you have tons of issues
References :
Yes. It is extremely hard to quit. The way it works is that when you first smoke, chemicals in the cigarette (nicotine) tricks your brain into releasing a "pleasure chemical" (dopamine) into your brain. Dopamine is your brain’s way of rewarding you when you do something critical to its survival. So dopamine is normally released when you have sex (contribute to reproduction of the species), eat food, drink water, come in the warm house from a cold snowstorm, and things like that. Dopamine is why all those things "feel good".
The problem comes in when you trick your brain by using drugs including tobacco. The brain is tricked into releasing dopamine. When the dopamine is released, your brain assumes you must have just done something critical to its survival (since that’s the only time it usually releases it). So your brain convinces you that you need tobacco/cigarettes to survive.
Keeping someone away from smoking once they are addicted is like trying to keep a starving man away from food. They can’t just snap out of it very easily.
Please DON’T START. It won’t make you look cool at school. It’ll make you smell bad, it’ll make your teeth turn yellow, you’ll gain weight, you’ll get wrinkles, your skin will get all pale and gross-looking, it causes fertility problems so you might not ever be able to have kids, decreases athletic performance, gives you greater risk of injury and illness, and impacts your general sexual health. It also costs a LOT of money, and it will also get you suspended and arrested for underage smoking, and it causes all sorts of health problems including lung cancer.
References :
Look … When I was 14 years old. I thought all that stuff was "cool" too , but hun , let me tell you. It really isnt. I can promise you a few years down the road, you will def. say why did I do that. I guess really no one understands untill it happens and they get older. but I have been there first hand. Dont start please. Its really bad. I know you dont wanna listen cause , im not telling you what you wanna hear, but im being honest. Please dont do it… tell your friends.. its not cool and walk away. If they have any sense, they will follow you. and say now that I think about it, its dumb and lame.
References :
People are different. I smoked around 60 untipped a day,wheezing as soon as I got up at morning.but stopped dead.before I dropped dead. A little light-headed for a week or so,but that’s all. Others find it easier to cut down gradually.
Smoking does not look ‘cool’ these days. Your breath stinks,your clothes stink.your teeth will get tainted,and it’s short-cut to a early death.
The best way,is to never start,if other youngsters want to be silly,it’s no reason for you to join them
References :
DID YOU MEAN THAT FOR REAL!!!!!!!!! oh honey yes it is my dad smokes and says its the best thing in the wrold and doesnt WANT to quit! just dont ok. you’ll be saving yourslef from alot of trouble with your body and in schol.
References :
Most people will not become addicted from one puff or one cigarette but it does set a precedent which can be added onto and becomes addiction.
Yes quiting smoking is very hard, haven’t smoked in 3 1/2 months and still sometimes have cravings.
I heard somewhere that nicotine is more addicting than heroine or crack.
References :
Yes, its called an addiction for a reason. They have patches, gums, and programs to help people to stop smoking. It causes cancer and people still do it. Do you think people would smoke for fun if they knew they would get cancer, bad breath, and teeth stains from it? Those are not benefits. And it is no longer cool once you leave high school. It is quite unattractive to many people who do not smoke.
References :
It is horrible. Don’t try it. Why would you want to do something you don’t like, just to be cool? being cool is being WHO YOU ARE. if your not the kind of girl who likes to smoke, don;t try.
References :
Please don’t do it! I smoke and I hate myself for it. The funny thing about smoking is that it tastes terrible and is terrible for you..but you get addicted and do it anyway. Do yourself a favor and don’t even try it..trust me that’s how you get hooked.
P.S You won’t look cool smoking at school because if you get caught you’ll be hanging out in the principal’s office anyway.
References :
Smoker..I suck.
Do not start to smoke. I did at one time but never again. After One heart attack I quit. then a few yrs. later 5 bypass surgery, and after that a
pacemaker operation and I still don’t breath to good after that. It screws up your lungs. And the older you get the worse it gets.DO NOT START TO SMOKE.
References :