Officially, tobacco is not a drug, but the nicotine found in cigarettes is highly addictive. Add about 40 more carcinogens and tobacco doesn’t seem so harmless.
Addiction is psychological and physical. It is much more difficult to fight the first one, it is because of it that smokers constantly postpone day X and indulge themselves. The second is the cause of withdrawal symptoms, when it becomes physically ill without the next dose of nicotine. Physical dependence develops gradually, but already at the initial stage, the smoker feels a surge of vigor and improved mood. Gradually, you have to increase the dose of nicotine and smoke more often, and quitting cigarettes causes anxiety and physical discomfort. A pack of cigarettes won’t kill today. And tomorrow too. The scenario of the Ministry of Health on the packaging may be realized in 10 years, or maybe not. The problem is that every smoker believes that these problems will be by passed. But, according to the UN, approximately 7 million deaths annually in the world are somehow associated with tobacco. Smoking can cause lung cancer, other types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, damage to the digestive and genitourinary systems, bones and teeth. All this does not happen in one day, but every cigarette smoker, no doubt, harms his body and not only him every day: the statistics of deaths from tobacco smoking are increased by secondhand smoke.
Joint smoke breaks with colleagues and friends, conversations in a smoking-room in an informal setting, association with the world of adult men in business suits, deciding questions over a cigarette, romanticizing cigarettes in cinema – all this is deposited in the subconscious of the consumer and makes you try, and then persuade yourself that nothing it won’t be bad. If you decide to quit, then you should not go to the company with colleagues and breathe smoke. What is called fragility in drug addiction treatment is also present in smokers, albeit to a lesser extent. This is nicotine withdrawal, a state of uncontrollable craving, desire to smoke. Without a cigarette, health worsens and irritation, weakness, and decreased attention appear. Therefore, the main obstacle to rejection is lack of willpower. People who can force themselves to quit smoking “through I can not”, but there are very few of them. For the rest, such attempts end in breakdowns, self-digging and depression. Therefore, the average person who wants to quit smoking needs methods and tools that will ease the state of psychological dependence and gradually reduce it to zero.
