Nicotine Addiction

Cigarette smoking is among the most preventable causes of disease worldwide. When a person smokes a cigarette, the body reacts instantly to the nicotine in the smoke. The nicotine in the smoke is absorbed quickly into the blood and starts affecting the brain within seven seconds, and then the entire body soon after. Nicotine causes a short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate and the flow of blood from the heart. Nicotine also causes the arteries to narrow, and acts on the nerves which control respiration to change breathing patterns. Dizziness, headache, nausea, coughing, gagging, abdominal cramps, vomiting or weakness are usual side effects of smoking, and a person must develop a tolerance after initially starting to smoke. Pure nicotine is extremely poisonous; a few drops on the tongue could even kill a person. However in addition to having a harmful potency, it is also extremely addictive. No product that contains nicotine however, is at a harmful level of potency. Much of symptoms stated above are a combination of the toxins from tobacco and the nicotine drug. Alternatives like nicotine gum, patches or even smoke free cigarettes, only contain a small amount of nicotine.

When a smoker reaches the point of addiction, nicotine in effect becomes both a stimulant and a sedative. In addition to the physical dependence nicotine performs on the brain, nicotine also has a strong psychological element to the addition. It is a combination of the physical and psychological that makes up this very real addiction to tobacco products and even tobacco free cigarettes.

People may start smoking for numerous reasons, however they keep usually because they find it too difficult to overcome the obstacles of addiction. Smokers find their nicotine fix to be a remedy for many everyday stresses in life, to the point that it becomes a comfort they physically depend on. Some may fear that by quitting, they will start gaining a lot of weight, some have lost confidence do to several failed attempts to quit. The consensus however, very few want to keep smoking forever because they just feel like it.

Like all addictions, getting rid of either physical or psychological elements of the addiction are useless without the either. Every person is different, and to some there may be more of a psychological dependency than the physical and vice versa. The reason why people want to buy electronic cigarettes is because it focuses on both sides of the addictions. These tobacco free cigarettes, allow the user to get a tiny dose of nicotine, but also do the physical act of smoking without any of the harmful chemicals tobacco contains. Of course, the dream and long-term goal would be to quit smoking anything altogether, but since it is so difficult to train your body both physically and mentally not to be dependent, many researchers have found that slowly weaning the body off has proven much more effective.

Quitting does take time. It takes getting used to, and the reality is our bodies much bigger sticklers for habit than our minds are. It takes our body, most importantly our mind, about four to five weeks to make something a habit. While it is true it takes three days for our body to be rid of withdrawal symptoms, our brain does in fact take weeks, even months to be free of any dependency. Even then, the more one goes off the bender, the harder it becomes to quit.