If you’re like me, and most other smokers, you’re probably worried that quitting smoking will make you anxious, irritable, depressed, or lower the quality of your life.

Perhaps you’ve been smoking for a long time and don’t know any other way to cope.  

So how can you manage your emotions without smoking?

Read on to learn:

• A new way to think about emotions
• 3 ways to better manage your emotions 
• How quitting smoking affects your emotions
• A simple way to avoid lashing out after quitting smoking
• How long it takes for your brain to feel normal after you quit

Emotions and Quitting Smoking

Almost all smokers use smoking to cope with their emotions. But does smoking really help you manage and navigate your emotions?

Lighting up a cigarette when you’re angry or stressed only helps you ignore the root cause of that emotion and distract yourself for a moment.

So smoking is not a coping mechanism, it’s a distraction mechanism.

Think about it.

If smoking really relieved stress and depression then smokers would be the most relaxed and the happiest people ever. And of course, that’s not the case.

On the contrary, smoking is a source of mental distress all by itself: having cravings, not feeling in control of your life and your health, feeling self-conscious all the time, missing out on precious moments to smoke, feeling guilty, worrying about the cost.

And quitting smoking decreases anxiety and depression. There is a lot of research that shows quitting smoking decreases anxiety and depression even for people with psychiatric disorders. This is huge!

Your mental health will improve dramatically after you quit smoking. Yes, there will be an adjustment period after you quit as it takes about 3 months for your brain to recover and start regulating dopamine naturally.

So give your brain time to heal.

In the meantime, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy your life and learn new ways to cope and manage your emotions without smoking

How to Manage Your Emotions without Smoking

Managing your emotions doesn’t mean always feeling good. That’s not real or realistic.

Instead, managing your emotions means navigating the different emotions you experience.

Let’s see 3 ways you can start doing that today.

1. Befriend your Emotions

We tend to think that negative emotions are bad experiences that happen to us, and we need to avoid, drown, or suppress them at any cost.

But what if you were to see your emotions as your ally? Something that happens for you, to serve you.

Emotions are neither good nor bad.

Emotions are just signals.

They show you what to pay attention to. When you have a negative emotion it’s a signal that something needs to change.

For example, if you feel guilt, it means that you did or said something that’s not in alignment with your values.

If you’re overwhelmed this is a signal that you need to prioritize. Feeling anxiety is a signal you need to slow down.

If you feel down, this is a signal you need to make some changes in how you see a situation, how you act, or how you talk to yourself.

And of course fear, that’s so prominent in quitting smoking, is just a signal that you need to protect yourself and prepare for something.

For example, if you see a car coming your way you feel fear so you can be alert and prepare to run.

And when you feel fear of failure or fear of the unknown this is a signal you need to prepare for what you’re afraid of.

If you are afraid you won’t be able to cope with stress without smoking this is a signal that you need to learn more about how nicotine affects anxiety and prepare for stressful occasions.

All emotions are just signals, and negative emotions can be useful too.

2. Report Your Emotions, Don’t Act On Them

Many of us fear that quitting smoking will make us irritable, get us in trouble, and even ruin our relationships.

Of course, quitting smoking can’t change your personality or turn you into someone you’re not.

And what gets us in trouble with other people is not the experience of any emotion but our behavior. Being angry doesn’t get us in trouble, the way we express it does.

You may not be able to – and you don’t have to – change the emotion you’re experiencing. But you can change how you show it.

When you catch yourself feeling irritated, acknowledge it and don’t bottle it up.

Keeping anger and irritation inside may cause you to snap at your friends and your loved ones at a later time and then blame quitting smoking for it.

Remember, it’s okay to feel angry whether you’re a smoker or a non-smoker. When you do, take a few deep breaths and report your feelings, don’t act on them.

In other words, don’t show anger with your behavior. Instead, say: I feel that way… This irritates me….

Lashing Out

We usually lash out because we’re not responding to the event that happened, we’re responding to the meaning we give to that event.

We’re responding to the meaning we give to what happened. 

We had a member in our CBQ program who was struggling with how he showed his anger, and he was worried that after quitting smoking, his anger would get worse.

And after talking to him, he realized that the reason he got angry was because of how he interpreted things. He took things very personally.

And I think that’s true for most of us when we feel angry. We take things personally.

“He did that… this means I am not valued,” “She did that, it means she didn’t listen to me,” or “She doesn’t care about me and what I want.”

We make it about us and this makes us feel angry.

And even if at times we’re right to take things personally, lashing out never helps.

When you notice you’re feeling irritated, ask yourself:

“Is this about me?”

“What else could this mean?”

…and report your emotions. don’t act on them.

Say, “I feel that way.. this makes me think that …you don’t value me/ you don’t care about me.” This will help you express how you feel and also allow the other person to explain. It’s a win-win!

3. Start Developing Healthy Coping Skills

As we mentioned a few moments ago, smoking is not a coping mechanism it’s a distraction mechanism.

However, if it is the only coping tool you ever used or knew, it’s natural that you’re going to experience a void when it’s gone. So you need to fill that void with healthy coping strategies.

Some examples of healthy coping strategies are a daily 10- minute self-care routine, journaling, or meditation. You need to experiment with different things and see what works best for you.

And if you’re struggling to implement or learn healthy coping skills, asking for help, even professional help, is going to benefit you a lot.

The Best Coping Strategy

My favorite coping strategy is something that helps you take a step back and relax. You can do it anywhere and it’s very simple because it has to do with your breathing.

Our emotions affect our breathing.

For example, how do you breathe when you’re stressed, angry or tense?

Your breathing is shallow, fast, and interrupted.

And how do you breathe when you feel relaxed, relieved, or calm?

Your breathing is deep and slow.

Our emotional state affects our breathing. Same way, we can affect our emotions by changing our breathing.

When you’re stressed your breathing is tense. So as you inhale the first few puffs of a cigarette, your breathing has to change and become deep and slow. Otherwise, you can’t smoke!

So what really happens when you smoke, is that you inhale deeply and slowly. So you feel relaxed thinking the cigarette helped.

But in reality it was the deep and slow breathing that relaxed you. Not the cigarette.

And you can relax without smoking, just by breathing deeply as if you were smoking a cigarette.

Our emotions are a huge smoking trigger and learning how to weaken your triggers and your response to them is part of the third stage of the CBQ Method.

The CBQ Method has 4 stages in total and these 4 stages help you overcome the mental addiction and change how you think and feel about smoking so you can quit easily.

So if you want to start with the CBQ method, make sure you get the foundational video of the CBQ.

In that free video, I show you the 4 stages of the CBQ method, how they work together, and tips to get started with every stage. You’ll get an overview of your quit smoking journey and a PDF starter guide for the CBQ method with tips and notes you can use along your journey.

Get the foundational video of the CBQ Method here. 

What is coronavirus COVID-19?

Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases and respiratory infections that can be mild or lethal. 

One of the lethal ones is COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019). This infectious virus has now become a global epidemic, according to the World Health Organization. 

Unfortunately, scientists are still not sure if recovering from the virus makes you immune to it or if you can be infected again.

Symptoms of COVID-19

Common symptoms

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath

Less common symptoms

• Muscle pain
• Sore throat
• Mucus or phlegm (sputum) production

Is it serious?

The majority of those infected have mild symptoms. But some progress to severe pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and death. 

A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association examined the cases in China. They found that 80% of those diagnosed had moderate symptoms and 20% experienced severe life-threatening symptoms.

Those who are the most susceptible to these severe symptoms:

• Are of advanced age. “As people increase in age from their 40s to 80s, we’re seeing mortality increase.”, says Michael Mina, MD, PhD; assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

• Have weaker or compromised lungs or immune system.

• Have underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes,  transplant history and lung disease like COPD or emphysema.

Are Smokers More Susceptible to COVID – 19?

Unfortunately, smoking harms the immune system, which makes your body less able to fight off disease and infection.

Smoking tobacco also increases inflammation in the body and harms the lungs. 

That’s why coronavirus is more dangerous for smokers, said Professor Robert Dingwall, a public health expert at Nottingham Trent University.

Professor Chris Whitty, epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer for England recommends smokers quit.

“I might add one slight rider to that which is for most respiratory infections, you worry about people who smoke a bit more. They’re more likely to get it and their lung immune system is less good. To be clear on smokers, my recommendation is that they stop smoking if you’re going to give up smoking, this is a very good moment to do it.”

So yes, smokers are more susceptible not only to catching COVID-19 but also developing worse symptoms if they get infected.

One reason is that smoking can cause lung disease like COPD and emphysema. These lung conditions make it more likely to get pneumonia, which is one of the severe COVID-19 symptoms.

However, all smokers are at higher risk of getting respiratory viral and bacterial infections like COVID-19. Even those who don’t have other lung or medical conditions.

That’s because smoking weakens the immune system, which is the body’s natural defense mechanism – says Dr Sanjay Agrawal, chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ Tobacco Advisory Group.

On top of that, if smokers do catch the virus, they’re more susceptible to pneumonia because they have a weaker immune system, compromised lungs and have damaged the cells protecting their nose and airways.

Our airways are lined with very small hairs, called cilia. Cilia act like a broom, sweeping toxins out of the airways when we cough. Smoking and vaping irritate and inflame the lungs and slow down and destroy the cilia. With fewer and slower cilia, your airways can’t stay clean and healthy. As a result, they store mucus in the lungs and this mucus can easily be infected by viruses.

What Research Says

Even though there aren’t enough studies investigating the connection between smoking and COVID-19 yet, we know smoking harms the lungs, which is what the virus attacks.

The coronavirus uses the receptor ACE2 to infect cells. And a preprint study found that the gene that encodes the receptor ACE2 is more active in smokers than nonsmokers. “This indicates that smokers may be more susceptible to 2019-nCov” and are part of the vulnerable population. 

A study published in the Chinese Medical Journal involved 78 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. And they found smokers were 14 times more likely to have progressed symptoms than nonsmokers, including death.

Another research analyzing 8000 deaths from China showed men are more likely to die than women. This could be related to the fact that more men smoke in China. More than 50% of Chinese men smoke compared to only 2.7% of Chinese women.

The research is ongoing and there’s still a lot we don’t know about the virus.

What we do know is that smokers are more vulnerable if they’re exposed to flu or other respiratory infections. And CODIV-19 is exactly that.

Does Vaping Also Make You More Susceptible to COVID-19?

People with compromised lung function can be at risk for serious complications of COVID- 19. And because vaping can harm lung health, vapers may also be at risk. 

Although there’s no study that links vaping to mortality from COVID-19 yet, it’s been proven that vaping aerosol, used by all brands of e-cigarettes, causes lung inflammation and harms the immune system. 

Is Vaping Healthier than Smoking?

Only time will tell.

But even if it was, healthier does not mean healthy. Vaping companies and representatives – most of them owned by big Tobacco- will go in great lengths to convince you vaping is an option during this epidemic. It’s not.

When it comes to defending against a virus that infects your lungs, vaping makes you susceptible because:

• Vaping causes inflammation of the lungs. A study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research found that just one month of vaping altered the lungs of people who never vaped before.

• E-cigarettes harm lung cells and make you less able to respond to infection says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

• Vaping contains acrolein (a herbicide) that can cause lung injury, COPD, asthma and lung cancer.

• It can suppress the response of your immune system at the gene level as much or even more than smoking.

• And it can change your lung biology, even if it’s occasional or second hand. In this study, healthy non-smokers were exposed to e-cigarette aerosol. After only 20 puffs, vaping altered the expression of 60 genes (including genes predisposing you to inflammation).

• What about JUUL? Aerosol from JUUL (owned by Phillip Morris) impairs blood vessels the same way normal cigarette smoke does.

You can learn more ways e-cigarettes affect your lungs and make you susceptible to respiratory infections here.

Do not exchange smoking for vaping and if you vape, now it’s the best time to stop. 

Are Young Adults Safe?

Recent research showed that young adults are at risk if they smoke or vape.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco looked at data from 8,400 men and women ages 18 to 25 and found that 1 in 3 young adults who smoke or vape have higher risk of illness severity, ICU admission or death.

So e-cigarette, tobacco and cigar use makes young adults vulnerable- even if they’re otherwise healthy.

FAQ’S

What if I already have a lung condition or underlying health condition?

Having an underlying health condition or lung disease such as COPD and emphysema increases your risk of experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms.

But remaining a smoker or vaper increases that risk even more. 

Stopping smoking may not remove the risk 100%. However, you will stop causing inflammation to your body and you will improve your health and immune system, giving your body a fighting chance against the virus.

Quitting smoking will also help you feel more in control over your health.

Is it too late for me? For how long do I need to be smoke-free to reduce my risk of getting corona or having serious complications if I get it?

According to Professor Lewis, lung defenses can start to heal within days after quitting. So quitting smoking now could significantly improve your ability to defend and recover from the infection. 

There’s not a specific day after quitting that your lungs or immune system instantly heal. On the contrary! The healing is continuous; it starts the moment you quit and keeps improving for as long as you stay smoke-free.

So quitting smoking will improve lung function and decrease your risk of pneumonia, and if you do get CONVID-19, you’ll have a lower risk of severe symptoms. 

Every cigarette you don’t smoke matters!

I self-quarantine. It’s not going to happen to me. Do I still have to quit?

The virus has already infected 200.000 people worldwide and it keeps spreading exponentially. Also, it’s fairly easy to catch it and we’re not sure if those recovered are immune or can spread it again.

So it’s best to think in terms “What if I do get it?”. In that case, your immune system is your first line of defense.

Even in quarantine, your life will be 100 times better if you don’t have to worry about smoking. Plus, you’ll have the time and space to prepare for your quit and succeed. It’s the right time. 

Is cannabis safe?

Although we don’t know exactly how cannabis affects the lungs and immune system, cannabis smoke is very similar to tobacco smoke, and vaped cannabis still delivers aerosol. So it’s recommended to stop using it, for now, explains Stanton A. Glantz, PhD the director of The Center for Tobacco Research Control & Education.

How to Quit Smoking Despite the Stress

The COVID-19 epidemic can change everything. Not only because it’s a potentially deadly virus for some but also because it’s changing life as we know it. 

Our routines, freedom, social interactions, priorities, work environment, frame of mind.  Everything gets affected. 

Even though we all hope there’s a solution soon, we still have to adapt to this new reality. A reality we didn’t choose but still have to embrace. 

In those times of uncertainty and stress, you may think cigarettes will help you cope.

Not because smoking gives any certainty or relaxation; cigarettes are nothing but a stick of brainless rolled grass with 4000 chemicals. 

But because smoking is part of a routine; and routine gives the illusion of certainty and stability.

In times where everything changes, you may be apprehensive to make additional changes like quitting smoking.

But in reality, quitting smoking is the ONLY change that will give you certainty, security and some peace of mind. It’s something you will do now and reap the benefits now and forever. 

Quitting smoking is the only thing that can reduce your stress physically and mentally.

Just imagine having more money, health, and freedom – instead of worrying about your next craving, stocking up cigarettes or feeling guilty for smoking.

The truth is, quitting smoking is the ONLY thing you can control right now.

So why leave that to chance?

There’s no good reason to postpone it any longer.

– Nasia Davos

You can email us here: [email protected]

Learn more about the CBQ Method: https://cbqmethod.com/cbq-method/

Join our Facebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cbqmethod/

Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/cbqmethod

Nicotine addiction affects millions around the world. It can be in the form of tobacco addiction, vaping, smokeless tobacco, nicotine patch, or nicotine gum addiction. 

Just why is nicotine so addictive? How does it affect the body? And why does it cause withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit it?

We’ll answer all those questions. But first, let’s see what nicotine is.

What Is Nicotine? Facts & Definition

Nicotine is a toxic colorless or yellowish oily liquid which is the chief active constituent of tobacco. It acts as a stimulant in small doses, but in larger amounts blocks the action of autonomic nerve and skeletal muscle cells.

Nicotine Definition

• You can find nicotine in the leaves of tobacco plants. Tobacco is a plant and nicotine is a chemical compound that occurs naturally. 

• There’s a small amount of nicotine in the leaves of the nightshade plants like tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, chili peppers and bell peppers.

• Nicotine occurs naturally but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Nicotine is a natural insecticide and keeps plants from being eaten by insects.

• When in the human body, nicotine is a drug.

• As a drug, nicotine is a stimulant and a sedative.

• Does nicotine cause cancer? The jury is still out on whether or not nicotine is a carcinogen. Although it’s not considered to be a carcinogen, many studies have found nicotine to promote the genesis of tumors. Nicotine can also create resistance in chemotherapy.

Symptoms of Nicotine Addiction

Using nicotine, in any form, can quickly lead to nicotine dependence.

Nicotine dependence is an addiction to products that contain nicotine. Being addicted means you can’t or don’t want to stop using the product you’re addicted to. 

Below are some signs of nicotine addiction:

• Planning your activities and interests to allow smoking.
• Enjoying the taste and smell of cigarettes. 
• Experiencing cravings for nicotine.
• Not enjoying socializing with non-smokers as much as you do with other smokers. 
• Experiencing mental and physical withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop. Mood changes, irritability, headaches, increased appetite, restlessness, insomnia, are some of these symptoms.
• Continuing smoking or using nicotine despite health problems that would improve if you stopped.
• Rationalizing your behavior and finding reasons to smoke, vape or chew. 

How Nicotine Addiction Works

Cigarette smoke or vapor is drawn into your lungs when you inhale. The smoke particles carry the nicotine into your lungs.

Once it reaches your lungs, nicotine is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. And then your blood carries the nicotine to your brain.

The process happens so quickly that it takes only about 10 seconds for nicotine to reach your brain after you inhale. 

When nicotine reaches your brain it releases dopamine and creates a buzz. This nicotine buzz has to do with why nicotine is addictive.

Smokeless Tobacco Addiction

If you chew tobacco or use snus or snuff, nicotine goes into your blood through the tissues lining your mouth. That takes a little longer than being absorbed through your lungs. 

But once the nicotine is in your blood, it goes to your brain and affects it the same way other forms of nicotine do.

The CDC reports that the nicotine you absorb from smokeless tobacco lasts in the blood longer than the nicotine you inhale.

Effects of Nicotine on the Brain

Once the nicotine is in your brain, it binds to the receptors of some of your brain cells. Think about these receptors as a lock and the nicotine as a key. 

It just so happens that nicotine can lock into these receptors, that are now called Nicotine receptors. (To be technical for a moment, their full name is nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs.)

The nicotine receptors are activated whenever a chemical binds to them. It’s usually acetylcholine, another chemical, that binds to these receptors, but nicotine can also bind to them. 

In other words, nicotine “steals” the place of acetylcholine and binds to the receptors. This causes a release of happy chemicals or else, a nicotine buzz.

After a while, your brain releases less acetylcholine. Now you need nicotine to bind to the receptors. And that’s how nicotine becomes addictive.

What happens if you don’t get nicotine?

If the addicted brain doesn’t get nicotine, the receptors aren’t activated and you don’t feel right. That explains a lot of the irritability and discomfort that come with quitting smoking. 

After you cut off nicotine and break the nicotine addiction, your level of acetylcholine will return to normal. You’ll be able to feel fine without nicotine.

Why is Nicotine Addictive

The nicotine receptors are located in the areas of your brain that have to do with pleasure and reward. 

When a receptor is activated, there’s a release of neurotransmitters. They are chemical substances that convey nerve impulses. And dopamine is one of these neurotransmitters that causes and sustains addictions.

Dopamine and Feeling Good

Dopamine has a lot of functions. It contributes to movement, memory, attention, and lots of other activities. When it comes to smoking, the function that’s most important is feeling rewarded. 

When a large amount of dopamine is released, you feel good. That’s why it’s the “feel-good hormone.”

A dopamine release is like getting an emotional reward. 

• 

And because nicotine reaches your brain so quickly, that reward-like feeling comes within seconds after you inhale. That instant gratification reinforces the nicotine dependence.

Dopamine is very important. It encourages us to repeat the behaviors that ensure our survival. Our brain rewards us when we eat, drink water, or have sex. Otherwise, we would starve to death and the human species would go extinct. 

But this dopamine reward system can make harmful behaviors, like smoking, seem important, too.

Nicotine is neither food nor water and it does not protect our survival. It just tricks our brain into thinking we need it, just like we need food. That’s what nicotine addiction is. It makes us believe we can’t live without the thing we’re addicted to. 

The mechanism of nicotine addiction is the same type of emotional reward you see in other addictions–to alcohol, cocaine, narcotics, and other drugs.

Dopamine and quitting smoking

Your brain releases dopamine not only when you do something pleasurable, but also when you expect to feel pleasure. So just the thought of doing something enjoyable, like having a delicious drink, can trigger a dopamine release.

For smokers, the sight of someone smoking can trigger that release. But if that sight–that expectation of a reward–isn’t followed by the nicotine your brain is expecting, your dopamine levels can drop. Now you have a low mood instead of pleasure.

And there are all sorts of cues and triggers that you’ve learned to associate with that reward. It might be a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, or taking a break.  

You’ve taught your brain to expect nicotine when you do these things. So when you first stop smoking, your brain still expects those dopamine releases from nicotine. That causes cigarette cravings.

With time, your brain’s expectations will change. You’ll have fewer cravings and your brain will start releasing dopamine naturally, without relying on nicotine.  

The More You Smoke, the More Addicted You Become

The number of nicotine receptors actually increases in smokers. If you’ve been smoking heavily for years, you probably have more nicotine receptors than you did before you started smoking. 

Having more nicotine receptors means you need more nicotine to bind to them. When receptors aren’t activated, you can begin to feel withdrawal symptoms. 

When you smoke regularly, you build up tolerance for nicotine and you stop experiencing the nicotine buzz.

Instead, you need to smoke just to avoid feeling withdrawal. 

Genetic Factors of Nicotine Addiction

Genes play a role in addiction, too. 

You can inherit how your nerve cells respond to nicotine. And the way your nerve cells respond affects how easily you become addicted or how much you smoke, vape, or chew.

In fact, some researchers believe that the risk of becoming addicted is, 50 to 75%, due to your genes!

The number of nicotine receptors in your brain increases if you’re a heavy smoker. But how much that number increases depends on your genes. 

Some people don’t develop many nicotine receptors, no matter how much they smoke. If you’re one of those people, you are a light smoker.

But if you’re someone who has formed a lot of additional nicotine receptors, you probably consume more than a pack a day.

Nicotine Side Effects on the Brain

One of the most significant dangers of nicotine is that it throws the brain chemicals, like dopamine and endorphin, out of balance. Research shows nicotine also prevents the genesis of new brain cells.

Side effects of nicotine on the brain of adults:

• dizziness
• disrupted sleep patterns
• blood flow restriction

Side effects of nicotine on the brain of teenagers and young adults:

• nicotine creates lasting impairments in memory, attention, and learning. The brain changes until the age of 25, and nicotine has a negative impact on that change. 

Is Nicotine Bad for You? What Does Nicotine Do to Your Body

Cigarette addiction has other physical effects, too. Nicotine affects the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, and reproductive systems of the body. 

Nicotine affects your blood circulation and heart 

• Causes plaque on the artery walls, known as atherosclerosis, which may lead to a heart attack.

• Blood vessels lose their elasticity which limits the oxygen that flows to your organs. 

• Your heart rate increases as your heart tries to take in more oxygen which in turn, increases your risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Nicotine affects your insulin levels, contributing to the risk of diabetes

• It stimulates the adrenal gland to release adrenaline. It’s a hormone, also known as epinephrine, that speeds up your heart rate by supplying more blood to your muscles, brain and heart. While this makes you feel more alert and energetic, it burdens your heart.
  
• Adrenaline also makes your body release more glucose into your blood. And it slows the release of insulin from your pancreas. The result is a higher blood glucose level, and insulin resistance.

Nicotine affects the respiratory system and the lungs

• It plays a role in the development of emphysema.

• Causes airway resistance by stimulating the parasympathetic ganglia.

• Nicotine affects the Central Nervous System and alters respiration.

• Nicotine can contribute to pneumonia.

• Vaping also increases the risk of pneumonia, according to a study published in the European Respiratory Journal has found.

Nicotine affects your gastrointestinal system

• Nicotine is linked to Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD) and peptic ulcer disease (PUD).
  
• It causes dry mouth, heartburn, and nausea.

Nicotine affects pregnancy

• The Americal Lung Association reports that nicotine during pregnancy can harm the brain and lung development of the fetus. 

• Nicotine addiction also affects the mental and physical health of the mother, causing low birth weights, premature birth, or stillbirth.

• Research shows nicotine can also cause obesity, hypertension, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, problems with brain and behavior development and even respiratory failure.

The Mental & Behavioral Side of Nicotine Addiction

Another reason why nicotine is addictive is that it becomes part of your routine and a coping mechanism. This creates a mental and psychological dependence on nicotine.

While nicotine goes to your brain and creates this dopamine release, you’re usually doing certain things or activities. 

So your brain has learned to link smoking and nicotine to those activities, routines, habits, and situations.

These situations become triggers. If you usually smoke while talking on the phone, then after a while talking on the phone will trigger cravings.

There are 4 types of smoking triggers: emotional, environmental, social, and double-habit triggers. Some of them are:

• Emotions you want to escape (anxiety, boredom)
• Seeing other people smoking or smelling cigarettes
• In between tasks
• After a meal
• Morning coffee or tea
• Alcoholic drink
• Talking on the phone
• Taking a break
• Driving
• Celebrating
• Socializing

With time, these situations seem incomplete or unenjoyable without cigarettes or nicotine. If you smoke when bored, then your brain has learned to expect a dopamine release when you feel that way.

If this dopamine release doesn’t come then you momentarily feel down. You may even think that boredom is unbearable without smoking, vaping, or nicotine.

That’s natural. The more you smoke, the more you rely on nicotine to cope with life. If you feel stressed or anxious, you probably smoke. After a while, it’s easy to think you can’t calm down or relax without that cigarette.

Fortunately, that’s not the case. Everything you do as a smoker you can do better as a non-smoker. 

When you are nicotine-free your brain gradually breaks the association between your triggers and smoking. Just like your brain learned to expect nicotine, it can learn to not expect it. 

Breaking the Cycle of Nicotine Addiction

The only way to break the cycle of addiction is to stop using nicotine.

Smoking is a mental and a physical addiction, so to quit for good you need to deal with both aspects. 

It’s natural to feel a sense of loss when you quit smoking. After all, addiction taught your brain to release most of its dopamine when nicotine is present. 

In the beginning, you may feel irritable, restless, angry, or sad. It can be tempting to reach for a cigarette to try to deal with these emotions.

Keep in mind that staying away from smoking is the fastest way to overcome those feelings. Get moving, stay busy, keep a positive attitude. You can do this! 

When you quit smoking, your brain will adjust so that you can enjoy pleasurable activities without nicotine. When that happens, you will feel happier as a non-smoker. Look at this as a learning curve.

The best treatment for nicotine addiction is to change how you think about nicotine and learn how to be happy without it. This might take some time, but it will be worth it.  

Cravings for Nicotine

After 3-6 days most nicotine will be out of your body so the physical cravings for nicotine will subside. Any cravings you experience after that are mental cravings.

Mental cravings are thoughts of smoking, vaping, or chewing.

But they’re thoughts, not commands.

If you stay away from nicotine,  those extra nicotine receptors in your brain will disappear and you’ll be back to normal levels of receptors in about a month.

Your body will heal from the effects of nicotine and smoking. And you’ll learn to enjoy life without a cigarette, even if it seems impossible at first.

Truth is, nicotine offers you nothing at all. If you believe it does, it’s because of the addiction. Once the addiction goes, you will start adapting to a new lifestyle that’s more fulfilling. 

Nicotine Withdrawal 

Just as the nicotine addiction has physical and psychological causes, nicotine withdrawal has both physical and psychological symptoms. 

Headaches, tremors, and trouble sleeping are a few of the physical symptoms. Changes in mood–anxiety, sadness, anger, irritability–are some of the psychological symptoms. You can learn about the nicotine withdrawal symptoms here.

Every withdrawal is different. Some smokers find that they crave sweets and gain weight, while others exercise more and lose weight. 

If you experience withdrawal symptoms, keep in mind that they will pass. They’re most troublesome in the first few days after you quit smoking, and will lessen over time.

You’re simply going through an adjustment period where you have to learn to live as a non-smoker. 

Your Future as a Happy Nonsmoker

Ups and downs are a natural part of life. You’ll have them whether you smoke or not. 

But if you stay away from nicotine, you’ll overcome the smoking addiction and learn other ways of coping.

Soon enough, you’ll learn to relax without having a cigarette. 

You’ll be healthier, you’ll breathe more easily. You’re likely to live longer.

And think of all the money you’ll save!