How to Quit Smoking: Know Your Enemy

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Cigarettes are a formidable opponent, but they can be conquered.

In order to stop smoking, you must know what you are up against.

This means understanding the physical and psychological aspects of smoking addiction.

Once you understand why cigarettes have a hold on you, you can begin to release yourself from its grip.

WHY you become addicted

Smoking addiction has physical and psychological components.

Physical addiction

Nicotine, one of the main ingredients in tobacco, is one of the most widely used recreational drugs in existence. It is also one of the most addictive, and (as you already realize) is known to be significantly detrimental to health.

The addictive nature of nicotine includes psychoactive effects, drug-reinforced behavior, compulsive use, relapse after abstinence, physical dependence, and tolerance.

Cigarettes are a very efficient and cleverly engineered nicotine delivery system. A smoker can get nicotine to the brain very quickly with every inhalation. A typical smoker will take 10 puffs over a 5-minute period. For a person who smokes about one-and-a-half packs (30 cigarettes) each day, this equals 300 daily nicotine hits to the brain.

Within 10 seconds of entering your body, the nicotine reaches your brain, causing it to release adrenaline. This creates a buzz of pleasure and energy.

But that buzz fades quickly and makes the user crave that feeling again.

The smoker lights up the next cigarette, and the cycle of addiction continues.

Because the body is able to build up a high tolerance to nicotine, the user needs to smoke more and more in order to get those pleasurable effects and prevent withdrawal symptoms.

When I said that cigarettes are a cleverly engineered nicotine delivery system, I wasn’t kidding.

They are designed to be that way.

Here’s the ugly truth: the tobacco industry has been engaged in a conspiracy to defraud you for over 50 years. This fact was first exposed by industry insiders in the 1990s.

Continue reading