Everyone knows about the negative effects of smoking on the body, but it does not make you give up the bad habit. Even after learning about tobacco-related lung cancer, few people give up cigarettes. Nicotine addiction doesn’t make it happen. It is considered a form of addiction that must be treated. Complex measures are needed for this purpose, only 7% of people get rid of addiction with the help of one wish.
General Information
More than 4 thousand chemical substances have been detected in tobacco smoke. 40 out of them have carcinogenic properties and are able to promote cancer development. But the main influence on our psyche is nicotine. It is a natural substance, a natural component of tobacco leaves, for which one smokes.
When smoking, the smoke penetrates the lungs, its components are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and spread throughout the body. The effects of nicotine on the brain begin 15 seconds after the first puff. This speed is comparable to intravenous drugs.
The transmission of signals between brain cells takes place with the help of neurotransmitters. These are biologically active substances that are produced by neurons and some organs of the endocrine system. Nicotine is similar in structure to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Therefore, nerve cells actively capture it using receptors. In response to nicotine stimulation, neurons increase the release of dopamine, the hormone of happiness and euphoria. At the same time, blood concentrations of adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol – hormones involved in stress reactions – increase.
The cascade of biochemical reactions leads to the signs of smoking. A person feels a rush of vivacity, his mood rises or his emotional background evens out. The smoker feels as if his brain is working better. This positive effect pleases the body. But after about 2 hours half of the nicotine that entered the blood is destroyed, so when the addiction is formed there is a desire to smoke a new cigarette.
But this effect after smoking does not appear immediately. It takes time for nicotine addiction to form. In adolescents and children with immature nervous system, the process is faster than in adults who began smoking after 20 years. It is almost impossible to get rid of the addiction obtained at a young age.
Psychological dependence on smoking
The first experience of smoking cigarettes is accompanied by unpleasant feelings and sometimes acute nicotine intoxication. The following signs appear in the person:
- cough;
- dizziness;
- headache;
- increased salivation;
- nausea;
- vomiting.
When small doses of nicotine enter the body regularly, resistance to its effects gradually builds up. After one cigarette there is no more nausea, vomiting or dizziness.
Psychological addiction to nicotine develops first. It is associated with the ritual of smoking and certain situations when the need for tobacco occurs. First it is the company in which most smokers, nervous tension in which cigarettes are used to distract thoughts. Many men begin to smoke during military service when they need to fill a long wait or a long break. Then tobacco use is associated with a cup of coffee, driving and other situations.
At the stage of psychological dependence, there is not yet an acute need for nicotine, the process itself is important. Narcologists call it stereotypical behavior. Therefore, a person can easily quit smoking and not experience withdrawal if they manage to break the psychological pattern.
Special conditions are needed to start smoking and to form an addiction. Some researchers believe that heredity is the cause of the bad habit. 50% of children from families where parents smoke also become addicted. In non-smoking families, 25% of children become addicted. But this peculiarity is more indicative of remembering the model of adult behavior and greater availability of cigarettes.
The desire to start smoking, and the subsequent addiction, develops under the following conditions:
The desire to appear to be an adult, an increase in one’s social status and self-esteem;
Frequent stress and a sense of relaxation, which gives smoking;
establishment of interpersonal contacts, smoking for company;
reduction of the withdrawal syndrome in other types of addiction.
Psychological addiction to smoking is a special type of conditioned reflex. The brain remembers and then learns the conditions under which it gets a dose of nicotine. If a person often ends his lunch with a cigarette, then gradually every time after a meal there will be a desire to smoke.