Why do people find it so difficult to give up smoking?
I got addicted to coffee for a while but gave it up easily, took me 1 attempt. But I would like to know why some smokers either: can’t give it up at all or take like 10 attempts to quit. The more detailed the answer the better!
December 17th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
cuz it’s not coffee…
December 17th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
theres a difference between coffee addiction and nicotine addiction.
December 17th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
The addictive personality varies amongst people. You should google “Addictive personality.”
December 17th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
1) Nicotine is more addictive than caffeine.
2) They also become addicted to the habit of taking regular smoke breaks. It’s healthy to take breaks from work/kids/life a few times during the day, and when some stop smoking they stop stepping away from whatever they are doing for a short break. Thus, stress builds up, and they feel the need to smoke.
December 17th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Personally, I love smoking. It has been a great part of the majority of my life.
December 17th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Because ciggs have over 4000 chemicals in them and that shi* is addictive ciggeretes have a physical and mental addiction to them you have to be a smoker to understand lol ive tried to quit and just cant seem to give the little bastards up.
December 17th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
cause it is. coffee and cigarettes are not even close to be similar..
Its a strong addiction. my mom smoked and while quitting she was throwing up
doubt the same goes for coffee
so dont look down on them or something until you yourself has been in the shoes of a person addicted.
December 17th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
One word Nicotine
Here’s the skinny: Nicotine is a naturally occurring colorless liquid in tobacco that turns brown when burned. There’s technology out there to remove most traces of nicotine from cigarettes. But tobacco companies don’t just ignore this fact — they go out of their way to enrich the addictive properties of nicotine. A cigarette contains about 2 mg of nicotine. A pack-a-day smoker delivers about 250 hits of nicotine to his or her brain each day [source: NIDA]. So quitting isn’t just about that one pack, it has more to do with those 250 hits. This helps explain why it’s so hard to quit. So does your gender, your genes, what brand you smoke and whether or not you suffer from a mental illness.
Another thing that makes it tough to stop smoking is something called free-base nicotine. This is a variation of the molecular structure of nicotine in which a hydrogen ion is missing. Why is that hydrogen ion special? Without it, nicotine vaporizes more easily into a gas, putting it on the express train to your lungs and from there, a quick ride to the brain. Any drug delivered to the brain more quickly is more addictive. Free-base nicotine basically does for smokers what crack does to cocaine users. Here’s where it gets interesting. Some brands of commercial cigarettes have been found to contain 10 to 20 times the amount of free-base nicotine than previously believed [source: Medical News Today]. Not only that, but the free-base nicotine is also packed more heavily toward the front of the cigarette, so those first few puffs really pack a wallop. Is it by some miracle that nicotine transforms into the free-base variety? Hardly. It’s helped along by the addition of ammonia to your smoky treat.
December 17th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
smoking is harder to give up than coffee….
December 17th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
bad habits are hard to break just like smoking.
December 17th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Oh man. I love coffee. I couldnt give it up. But ciggs are different. That stressful day at school or work and all thats going through your head is “God, i need a cig right now.” Then you get home and that first 2-3 hits makes it all go away.
Then once you cut that out, your even more stress cause that short 5 minutes of relieve is now gone and nothing can compete with it.
Plus the chemicals. Plays a big role as well
January 12th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
You have to remember that addiction to smoking – is drug addiction. – and yes it can be hard at the time. – but you really do just have to stick with it. – its DETERMINATION and STRONG WILL at the end of the day. – after meals is the worst time – but instead of giving in to the craving – START MOVING AND KEEP YOURSELF BUSY. – each time the craving is strong grab your coat and go out and start WALKING !!