Smoking: Eating You Alive


Quitting smoking is not easy but it’s not impossible. With the right information and motivation from others, every smoker can succeed to bust off this destructive habit. You smoke because you are an addict, just like the street-creature you call a junkie. Recovering from heroin addiction is a nightmare; with the right mindset, recovering from a nicotine addiction is actually easy. I also believe that there are many people out there who are unwilling or unable to separate the realities of the “addict-ability” of the two drugs from the withdrawal symptoms. The dynamics of nicotine addiction are pretty much the same as those of any other addiction. Heroin withdrawal, like nicotine, begins immediately after the drug begins leaving the body. Major withdrawal symptoms peak in 48-72 hours and subside in about a week. The smoker begins to feel “pangs”; there is, contrary to common lore, no physical pain involved. It is merely a feeling of restlessness or that something is missing and can lead to nervousness or agitation on the part of the smoker. In addition, how do we end the nervousness and agitation? “More poison, please!”You experience something that makes you feel good (drugs, alcohol, nicotine) and when the “feel-good” stuff goes away you’re left feeling bad. Moreover, the way to stop feeling bad is to ingest more of the feel-good stuff.

The need to recover from an unpleasant state created by the addictive substance of choice demands that the addict ingest more of the substance that is causing the discomfort in the first place. I’ve met smokers who claim not to believe the overwhelming evidence that smoking is hazardous to your health. Some believe it but are willing to risk painful death rather than quit.

 Two lame excuses smokers give when they smoke.
1. It relaxes me: Take a few deep breaths as non-smokers do when they get tense, Stretch, Take a walk, and say a prayer Meditate. Call your doctor; they make pills for that and your medical insurance pays for them.



2. Peer pressure: Why most of us started; our cool teen-agedfriends convinced us that we needed to smoke if we were going to be ‘in’ withtheir crowd. However, you’re not a teenager any more, you’re a grown-up- start acting like one and lose the fags If you or someone you know is going through the same difficulty of quitting smoking, you can always find a reason to pursue just by reading blogs. Information is the key towards a healthier and happier life.