How addictive is smoking cigarettes?

[auditor0007]

I know someone who quit many years ago. She is in a situation where she is alone for part of every week and has started smoking during those days. She then does not smoke for about 4-5 days a week. She says she feels nothing during the days she is not smoking. Further, she believes its very possible that the actual addiction is not nearly what we've all been told, both by cigarette makers and supposedly unbiased researchers. Frankly, I think she will soon be smoking full time but she says she's been doing this for quite some time.

We all know people who, one day, decided not to smoke anymore and were able to quit cold turkey. We also know of those who struggled to quit for a long time before being able to actually quit or gave up and just kept on smoking.

So, what are the chances that cigs are not as addictive as we've been told?

I smoked for 30 years. I quit cold turkey a little over three years ago. Quitting was not easy, but it wasn't the most difficult thing I have ever had to do either. Nicotine is addictive, but it is important to understand what nicotine does to the body that makes it addictive. Nicotine raises dopamine levels, which in turn help give us a feeling of well being, or a high. Once these dopamine levels have been heightened for an extended period of time, the body wants to keep them there. When a smoker then removes nicotine, those dopamine levels fall and the body reacts in a negative way. This creates an urge for the smoker to smoke another cigarette, and because nicotine does not stay in the smokers system for very long, he/she feels the need for another cigarette very quickly. This is why most smokers smoke about one cigarette per hour or more.

The thing is that withdrawal from nicotine is actually just a lowering of dopamine levels back to normal. Once those dopamine levels reach a normal level and the body adjusts to that new level, than all physical cravings cease. This normally takes two weeks from the time a smoker quits smoking. So, is nicotine all that addictive? Yes and no. It is easy to become addicted because it doesn't take long for those dopamine levels to become elevated for a long period of time. One month, and most people are addicted. But is it so addictive that it makes it that hard to quit? Not really. In fact, I think cigarette companies encourage the idea that it is so addictive that you can't quit easily, even while they say the exact opposite. They don't want people quitting, so allowing this idea to perpetuate makes sense. Truthfully, the mental side of smoking addiction is probably just as bad as the physical addiction. I think that is what makes it more difficult for people to quit.

BTW, I rarely think about smoking anymore. I did take a much bigger interest in my physical well being after quitting. I eat healthy and exercise regularly, and I'm in the best shape of my life since my high school days. I lost weight after quitting, and I now run about 25 miles per week. So for my final answer, I would say that while nicotine is addictive, it is not nearly as addictive as people make it out to be. Smokers who want to quit just need to realize that they will have a couple uncomfortable weeks while quitting.

 

[percysunshine]

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I have tried not posting on USMB. I have gone several months without posting. Yet, I keep coming back. I am pretty sure this is taking years off of my life span.

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[Jackson]

Years ago, I had a friend who quit smoking and took up chewing. He frowned me still smoking but would spit in my sink. I don't have the words to express how repulsed I was by that and my stomach still rolls over when I see someone spit on the street. Ugh.

I used to think I have an addictive personality. I quit drinking alcohol when I was married to an abusive alcoholic - 25 years of living with a dry drunk.

I never did any drugs stronger than marijuana but hadn't had any weed for like 40 years or more when a friend recently shared with me. I felt nothing. Never did get a buzz from weed. Maybe I'm immune.

Drugs always scared me and they always did. I watched friends in the late 60s-70s doing hard drugs and never wanted any part of it. I have a woman working for me now who lost every tooth in her head to meth. She went penecostal, feels her religion has helped her stay clean. She says that two years ago, her church told her they would help her buy teeth but so far, nothing.

I now drink alcohol but not to excess. I'd like to drink more wine than I do but damn - those calories! About cigs, I agree with Ernie - one would not be enough. I suspect that if I did what the woman in my OP does, I'd be buying a carton in no time.

Another thing I thought about what she tells me is - she managed to get off cigarettes. Why would she want to go back to it? My answer is the same as Derideo_Te - addiction.

I smoked up to 4 packs a day. Finally had trouble breathing and had to quit. It was hard, but with Chantix I did it. I miss it terribly. I had a stressful day one year after quitting and decided to get one pack... that was it. No. I smoked for two weeks until I couldn't breathe walking from one room to another. Quit again, but I love smelling someone smoking nearby. My doctor says nicotine is more addictive than heroine.

i hope your breathing has gotten better

Thank you.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I know someone who quit many years ago. She is in a situation where she is alone for part of every week and has started smoking during those days. She then does not smoke for about 4-5 days a week. She says she feels nothing during the days she is not smoking. Further, she believes its very possible that the actual addiction is not nearly what we've all been told, both by cigarette makers and supposedly unbiased researchers. Frankly, I think she will soon be smoking full time but she says she's been doing this for quite some time.

We all know people who, one day, decided not to smoke anymore and were able to quit cold turkey. We also know of those who struggled to quit for a long time before being able to actually quit or gave up and just kept on smoking.

So, what are the chances that cigs are not as addictive as we've been told?

I smoked for 30 years. I quit cold turkey a little over three years ago. Quitting was not easy, but it wasn't the most difficult thing I have ever had to do either. Nicotine is addictive, but it is important to understand what nicotine does to the body that makes it addictive. Nicotine raises dopamine levels, which in turn help give us a feeling of well being, or a high. Once these dopamine levels have been heightened for an extended period of time, the body wants to keep them there. When a smoker then removes nicotine, those dopamine levels fall and the body reacts in a negative way. This creates an urge for the smoker to smoke another cigarette, and because nicotine does not stay in the smokers system for very long, he/she feels the need for another cigarette very quickly. This is why most smokers smoke about one cigarette per hour or more.

The thing is that withdrawal from nicotine is actually just a lowering of dopamine levels back to normal. Once those dopamine levels reach a normal level and the body adjusts to that new level, than all physical cravings cease. This normally takes two weeks from the time a smoker quits smoking. So, is nicotine all that addictive? Yes and no. It is easy to become addicted because it doesn't take long for those dopamine levels to become elevated for a long period of time. One month, and most people are addicted. But is it so addictive that it makes it that hard to quit? Not really. In fact, I think cigarette companies encourage the idea that it is so addictive that you can't quit easily, even while they say the exact opposite. They don't want people quitting, so allowing this idea to perpetuate makes sense. Truthfully, the mental side of smoking addiction is probably just as bad as the physical addiction. I think that is what makes it more difficult for people to quit.

BTW, I rarely think about smoking anymore. I did take a much bigger interest in my physical well being after quitting. I eat healthy and exercise regularly, and I'm in the best shape of my life since my high school days. I lost weight after quitting, and I now run about 25 miles per week. So for my final answer, I would say that while nicotine is addictive, it is not nearly as addictive as people make it out to be. Smokers who want to quit just need to realize that they will have a couple uncomfortable weeks while quitting.

When smoking, I was slender, running and playing racquetball. I was already vegetarian and its not for nothing that the word comes from the Greek, vegetare, meaning to enliven. Really, I would hate to go back to how I felt when I ate meat.

I've said before that my whole family is fat, has heart disease, is diabetic and that I'm the oldest surviving sibling out of five. Three, younger than me, died of diet-related illness. The only one left, younger than me, is fat, diabetic and has had two heart attacks. All were/are smokers. I like my way better.

Quitting cigs was much like quitting eating meat. It was very liberating to finally be free of feeling fat and lazy from eating meat and just as liberating to be free of the stink and coughing from cigarettes.

Its to the advantage of cig makers that we believe we can't quit or that its just so hard, so addictive that our lives will be miserable without them. You're right that its ONLY uncomfortable. Its certainly not insurmountable.