In brief: “Every day, people all over the world take up smoking. Also, there are several smokers who decide to quit smoking due to a number of reasons. Sadly, not many succeed in their quest to quit smoking. There are several reasons why people fail at quitting smoking cigarettes. It is said that quitting smoking is quite hard. Here are some reasons as to why it is so hard to stop/quit smoking.”
Why people fail to quit smoking cigarettes? Quitting smoking is a difficult process.
Smoking is addictive. The various ingredients in the cigarette have the same, and even deeper on the human mind as alcohol or any other drug has. There is a time when smoking turns from a leisure activity to a requirement, just like going to the washroom. When a smoker reaches this stage, the chances of him or her failing in their trials to quit smoking are more than before. The below paragraphs try to answer the question, why is it hard to quit smoking?
Why is it difficult to quit?
More than seventy percent of smokers who try to quit smoking get into a relapse because of the addictive ingredients in cigarettes. There are several psychological and physical reasons why a smoker cannot quit smoking (or find it hard):
1. The physical aspect of smoking: Some smokers are addicted to the physical aspect of smoking, that of having a cigarette in their hands and inhaling it with their mouth. These individuals find it quite difficult to quit smoking, because even the nicotine patches do not give them the satisfaction of what a cigarette would give them. These smokers consider cigarettes to be a way of letting down their hair, or even coping with stress. These individuals are mostly found smoking away after lunch and dinner breaks.
2. The psychological effect of smoking: There are several individuals who feel they are incomplete without a cigarette once they are into the circle of smoking. Therefore, it can be said that not only does smoking has an effect on the health of an individual; it also has an effect on the psychology and the mentality of the individual.
3. The nicotine: Though nicotine is not that well known in the recreational drugs circuit, it is known as the silent killer, as the people who are addicted to nicotine do not understand the seriousness of being addicted to a drug. A recent survey has pointed out that people smoke the most when they are at work, a place where they are under a certain discipline and have to interact and act in ways that are laid out for them. Therefore, it can be deduced that nicotine is used more as a stress reliever than as a recreational drug.
4. The addiction: In fact, studies have shown that people trying to quit smoking undergo the same withdrawal symptoms and aspects that a heroin addict or a cocaine addict may undergo. The only difference between nicotine and drugs like cocaine and heroin is that nicotine is legally and cheaply available, whereas cocaine and heroin are not.
Other than that, cigarettes contain tar and forty other carcinogenic substances. There are many chances that these cause various cancers in the human body. Nicotine is the element in the cigarette that makes you feel calm and relaxed. At the outset, the body requires just a little amount of this nicotine to calm oneself, but as the time passes, the body requires more and more amount of nicotine to calm down one’s senses. This is where the addiction increases and a person ups his or her cigarette intake from one cigarette to an entire box and so on and so forth.
A smoker will also find that he will enjoy smoking when driving, drinking tea or coffee or even talking over the phone.
What will start as something to do with your hands while using your mouth will culminate into a trigger point for the human psyche to ask for a cigarette. These are the everyday activities that will become the trigger point for a smoker.
All said and done, the reason that people find it difficult to quit smoking can vary from person to person. Some may be addicted to the nicotine in the cigarettes; some may be addicted to the physical aspect of holding a cigarette and smoking, but it goes without saying that trying to quit smoking is hard almost equal to quitting similar and more dangerous addictions like heroin or cocaine.
