For over fifty years now, people have been telling us that smoking is addictive. The nicotine is said to increase the levels of dopamine in your brain which gives the smoker that "pleasure sensation" everytime they inhale. In fact, the brain produces more receptors to accommodate more and more nicotine, in an effort to get more of that feeling. Researchers state that over 85% of all smokers are addicted to nicotine. Given the low success rates associated with smoking cessation aids, it is easy to see how one could come to the conclusion that nicotine is addictive and is often compared to the addictive properties of opium and cocaine.
The second part of habitual smoking is the behavioral side. We humans are creatures of habit and tend to associate certain activities together. We all know people who smoke only when they drink. Those two behaviors are said to be associated. In addition, many smokers take cues from their environment which trigger the smoking response. Often times these are simple cues like finishing a meal, driving to work, or some other basic, repeated cue that occurs throughout the day. This one-two punch makes stopping smoking very difficult.
However, new research from Tel Aviv is challenging the assumption that smoking causes a physiological addiction, like heroin. Dr. Dar's study examines the idea that smoking may be a simple case of mind over matter. His premise states that smoking's primary driver is behavioral. He feels these triggers are so strong they cause the appearance of physiological addiction. His study looked at craving intensity on regular smoking days, a voluntary day of abstinence and the required smoking cessation on the Sabbath. His findings show that cravings on the Sabbath were less intense when the smoker knew they couldn't smoke. The cravings on the day of abstinence were just as strong as the regular smoking days. This lead Dr. Dar to conclude that when the individual knew they couldn't smoke, they were not showing the addictive calling card, intense cravings, that were present on every other day; in essence, mind over matter.
There may be something to Dr. Dar's research. After treating thousands of patients in the hospital, it is my experience that once the patient had made up their mind to stop smoking, it didn't really matter what method they used, they simply stopped. And they stopped without any trouble.
Skeptics will argue this mind over matter concept. Research is still warranted to determine just which side of the addiction represents the most influencing motivation to smoke. In fact, there is also new research pointing to a smoking gene which, when present, can predict how successful a person will be when trying to quit. However, this genome testing is very expensive and still in it's infancy.
What it boils down to is this, the mind is extremely powerful. If you've finally had it with smoking and you're ready to quit, find what stop smoking aid best fits your personality and is something you can stick with. Then follow the stop smoking help guidelines and quit smoking.
If you're not serious about stopping, or you feel like you can quit just as easy as you started, then you're fooling yourself. It does take a decision followed by another decision and another. Each day, you have to resolve to quit smoking. Because whether it's environmental cues or a true physical addiction, you need to be prepared mentally for what you're trying to do.
