Smoking Cessation

Symptoms

Any level of cigarette use can swiftly result in nicotine dependence for certain people. Addiction-related warning signs include:

You are unable to stop smoking. One or more sincere, but fruitless, attempts to stop have been undertaken.

When you try to stop, you experience withdrawal symptoms. Strong cravings, anxiety, irritability, restlessness, problems concentrating, a sad mood, frustration, rage, increased appetite, insomnia, constipation, or diarrhoea are physical and emotion-related symptoms that have resulted from your attempts to stop.

You continue to smoke in spite of health issues. You haven't been able to stop, even when you've experienced heart or lung problems.

You stop doing social things. Since you cannot smoke in these settings, you may cease visiting smoke-free establishments and stopping to interact with family and friends.

When to visit the doctor

You're not alone if you've tried to quit smoking but haven't been successful in doing so. Before achieving sustained, long-term abstinence from smoking, the majority of smokers make numerous attempts to quit.

A treatment programme that addresses both the behavioural and physical elements of nicotine dependency can increase your chances of succeeding in quitting for good. Your chances of success will be considerably increased if you use medication and work with a counsellor who has had specialised training in helping people quit smoking (a tobacco treatment specialist).

Ask your medical team to assist you in creating a treatment plan that is effective for you or to provide you recommendations for resources to help you quit smoking.

Causes

The substance in tobacco called nicotine is what keeps you smoking. Within seconds after inhaling nicotine, it reaches the brain. Nicotine enhances the release of neurotransmitters, brain chemicals that assist control mood and behaviour.

One of these neurotransmitters, dopamine, is released in the brain's reward centre and results in sensations of pleasure and a lifted mood.

You need more nicotine to feel good the more you smoke. Nicotine swiftly ingrains itself into your routine and influences your habits and emotions.

The following situations frequently cause the impulse to smoke:

Taking breaks or consuming coffee at work

Telephone conversation

Consuming alcoholic beverages

Operating a vehicle 

Socialising with friends 

You must become conscious of your triggers and develop a strategy for coping with them if you want to kick your nicotine addiction.

Risk elements

Anyone who consumes tobacco through smoking or other means runs the danger of developing a dependence. The following variables affect whether someone will use tobacco:

Age: Most people start smoking when they are children or teenagers. The likelihood that you may develop an addiction to smoking increases with age.

Genetics: Your propensity to start and continue smoking may be partially inherited. The way receptors on the surface of your brain's nerve cells react to the high levels of nicotine that cigarettes supply may depend on genetic variables.

Parents and peers: Children who have smoking parents are more prone to start smoking themselves. Children who have smoking-related pals are likewise more prone to try it.

Depressive disorders or other mental illnesses. Numerous research have linked smoking with depression. Smokers are more prone to suffer mental illnesses such depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other types of mental illness.

Drug abuse. Smokers are more likely to engage in drug and alcohol abuse.