BEHAVIOUR
why dO PEOPlE ENjOy SmOkINg SO mUch (OR fINd NOt SmOkINg SO UNcOmfORtaBlE) aNd why dO thEy Say It RElaxES thEm whEN It IS actUally a mIld-StImUlaNt? SmOkINg cESSatION ExPERt, dR alaN cURlEy fROm Uc SOlUtIONS gIVES hIS VIEwS.
StOPPINg SmOkINg: mINd OVER mattER? t
he unfortunate thing is that many smokers see smoking as a behavioural choice, but it’s not.
Smoking is, in fact, a programmed behaviour/addiction and, once people start smoking, the addiction hits them in four minutes. my role is to help change how people feel and think and cope with daily life.
for many clients the act of smoking is a four-way process, which comes together to make people addicted.
these four processes of change are: physiological, pharmacological, psychological, and physical behaviour and social changes.
Nicotine is a mild stimulant and actually gives you a small energy boost due to causing dopamine release in your brain.
moreover, it is the symptoms of stopping or withdrawing from each of the four processes which makes people feel so uncomfortable when stopping smoking and thus some of the pleasure of smoking is actually derived from the lowering of the discomfort from the withdrawal associated with lowered nicotine levels due to metabolism of the last cigarette.
Put simply, the body builds the addiction. the brain gets a stimulus from the physical action and this increases/releases dopamine, which gives the body a mild buzz/boost. as a result, the brain feels better.
46 - PhaRmacy IN fOcUS
Every shot you give the brain gives it a buzz, and when you don't give it the buzz, it's like taking a toy off a kid. the brain craves the drug and, as a result, drives the desire to pick up another cigarette. when you don't choose to pick one up, you're driven by your brain.
Smoking feels pleasant for the brain - especially if life isn't great for a patient at the moment. that's why smoking is particularly prevalent among the poor or socially deprived - it provides some moments of enjoyment in an otherwise dreary existence.
PhySIOlOgIcal/ PhaRmacOlOgIcal Smoking triggers dopamine relate in the brain and gives you a mild physiological stimulation and energy- boost. this increase in energy is nice as our energy levels get drained by daily life and a small energy-boost always feels good and you feel you can carry on and complete the next task of the day (hence why smokers have a cigarette every time they complete a daily task before starting their next task).
Every cigarette contains: 4000 chemicals - of which 60 are classed as class a poisons, such as: • arsenic • formaldehyde • carbon monoxide • benzine (such as in petrol)
PSychOlOgIcal chaNgES when smokers feel stressed or uncomfortable, then they go outside and basically use the cigarette as a
meditation tool (they take deep breaths to inhale smoke and then they hold their breath and then they slowly exhale).
the average smoker takes ten draws on a cigarette, and this is also a meditative technique called the ten breaths. It is often this meditative, relaxed breathing pattern which is thought to make the smoker feel so much more relaxed and focused after having their cigarette (when it really is down to the relaxed breathing that they have carried out for five to ten minutes).
In short, the physical experience of smoking helps a person to deal with stress and provides them with a better mindset/psychology.
Recent research has looked at behaviour. If you look at mental health protocol for
stress..as soon as you get stressed, you should go outside and breathe. If you consider smoking, then if you go outside and light up, breathe in and inhale the smoke, then, even if you exhale, you’re still holding the smoke in your lungs for three to five seconds.
this is actually very similar to meditative techniques - if you take a breath in, and hold for ten seconds - it leads to relaxed breathing and an energy boost - which means that the average smokers who takes ten puffs of a cig, is getting a big hit of ‘calming’, so much so that, by the time they walk back in, their head feels clearer and calm, just as when someone meditates, which is why people feel more relaxed and their mind is more focussed.
anything that makes you do something physical is good. the ‘hand-to-mouth' action has been proven to be particularly important when it comes to relieving stress and anxiety.
If you ask people when smoking most affects them, they say it’s when they’re stressed or bored. the paradox is, however, that when people sit people are sitting bored in the house - such as the unemployed –they’ll look for something that will allow them to relieve the boredom and provide a distraction. It’s at that point that it then can become a routine.
SOcIal chaNgES People want social connections - most people, research has shown, started smoking when with others, - something like 98 per cent said they did it with a group of pals. But what starts off as a social thing then becomes something more insidious.
In the 80s 'smirting' was a big thing; guys were going outside of bars with a lighter and cigarettes even when
PhySIcal BEhaVIOUR chaNgES another important aspect of a cigarette is that, when a smoker gets stressed or bored, then the cigarette allows them to go away and sit down or go outside (away from the stressful situation) and if they are bored then it gives them something to do and focus on for ten minutes (this is why hand-to-mouth behaviours are used by people who suffer stress/anxiety, ie, nail biting, etc).
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