Smoking Cessation – Is It Really Hard To Quit Smoking?

Tobacco

Tobacco is responsible for the death of 1 in 10 adults all over the world, which is equal to around 5 million deaths every year. Cigarette smoking has became the in the present world public health priority in accordance to this fact.
As we mentioned previously, sometime during the First World War the boom in cigarette smoking occurred. Tobacco companies were successful in including their products as part of the military ration.
At the time, under the stress of warfare soldiers took up smoking. And since then, the tobacco industry has grown through an increased consumer support all over the world.

Effects of Smoking

Directly and indirectly, smoking poses dangers to the public. An indirect public health concern that cigarettes may pose is accidental fire. Cigarette smoking mainly attacks the cardiovascular system, resulting to heart attack, respiratory tract diseases, and Lung cancer (Smoking and Lung Cancer).
In spite of knowing all these risks, the number of cigarette smokers has not dropped considerably all other the world. Though several smokers claim to have been meaning to quit smoking but they just find it so difficult to quit smoking.
The reason behind this is that after smoking for quite sometime, smoking cessation will prove to be very hard but smoking cessation not impossible.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking cessation is hard to do because most smokers become addicted to the nicotine in the cigarette. Nicotine has a deadly addictive power. Nicotine particles find their way to the lungs through inhalation, when a person puffs a cigarette.
From there, just like the oxygen people breath, nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream. It travels with the blood to the brain where it locks onto certain receptor areas. Dopamine is then released into the brain.
Dopamine is the chemical that is responsible for the smoker feel a joyous sensation. Because of the dependence on this good feeling, smokers find it difficult in smoking cessation. And in wanting to experience this repetitively, this leads to dependence, which is a sign of addiction.

Withdrawal Symptoms of Smoking Cessation

A person who attempts to quit may experience withdrawal symptoms of smoking cessation. The first and foremost withdrawal symptom of quit smoking cessation is depression.
The brain becomes distressed with the absence of the chemical that produces the relaxing feeling. Other withdrawal symptoms of smoking cessation include:

• Insomnia, troubled sleep
• Hunger, fatigue
• Cough, dry throat nasal drip
• Constipation, gas or stomach pain
• Shakes, chills
• Headaches, dizziness, and nausea

Common complaint while smoking cessation is that they don’t know what to do with their hands. Smoking becomes a big part of their lives, once they get addicted to smoking. They seem to enjoy holding on a stick of cigarette and puffing on them.
And after some period of lighting up, it becomes a regular habit again. As a fact, humans are creatures of habit. By some force of habit, without thinking about it smokers find themselves reaching for a cigarette and lighting it up automatically.
Certain “triggers” in the environment may also hinder a smoker’s desire of smoking cessation. Things may turn on a smoker’s need for a cigarette. These may be feelings, places, and moods. Even the things done regularly may trigger this craving for a smoke.
Smokers may not realize it but they form some emotional attachment to cigarettes after smoking for quite a while. During the stressful times smokers find the cigarette calming and comforting.
Particularly when the smokers are emotionally attached, somehow cigarette smoking becomes an extension of their social life. Giving the smoker a feeling smoking cessation would seem like giving up a trusted friend.
These are only some of the major reasons why smoking cessation is hard. But there are also several strategies and smoking cessation techniques that may aid smokers to finally give up on this tenacious habit. With one’s intention to stop, smoking cessation begins.
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 for smoking cessation are proved to be very helpful, too.