Smoking is a habit, not an addiction

Smokers who can't stop smoking-and non-smokers who don't comprehend the leechlike aspects of the habit-insist that the need for cigarettes is an addiction. When an individual becomes a drug addict, the dependence on drugs is not only emotional but also physiological. The marked and increasingly severe changes in his body chemistry are not fleeting or transient; they endure, and while they endure the body physiologically requires renewal of the drug effect. What is more, the body increasingly becomes dependent on ever-increasing doses.

When we smoke, there are physiological changes, of course-the heart rate, blood pressure, circulation and blood are affected. But when we stop smoking, the effects do not endure; they gradually disappear. The heart rate returns to normal (permanent damage excluded, of course) and so does the blood pressure. The body does not demand more nicotine; it continues as efficiently as possible to eliminate as much of this poison as possible.

It is a well accepted medical fact that the body never (no matter how long you have been smoking)  never becomes accustomed to the nicotine and coal tars in cigarette smoke. You could put it this way. The body has a desperate desire and need for drugs when the drug addict attempts "withdrawal." Quite to the contrary, the body actually feels and is better when the smoker stops smoking. The "withdrawal" in smoking is mental, not physical.

During the first three days, the symptoms are typically the worst.  You may be tired and be extremely irritable.  At this point, however, you probably have a lot of belief in what you are doing, so you are expecting it and muscle through.  Two weeks later, you may become frustrated that your thoughts are still continually turning to smoking and you still may be irritable, anxious and become depressed.  Two to four months is the true length of time for most to become free of nicotine.  During this time, the symptoms will gradually subside, but may occur so slowly that you feel like you are getting nowhere.  Also, your addicted brain will try to come up with just about any excuse to relapse. 

The only way to the end is through it, so stay strong and convicted about quitting smoking.  Think positively every day and congratulate yourself for what you are doing.  Develop some meditative techniques to help you through your cravings and your shortened temper.  A support group can be helpful as well.  If you start to gain weight, remember that that extra 10 pounds won’t kill you, but cigarettes will.  Starting to smoke again will not help you lose that weight (many fat people smoke).  Exercise instead, but don’t worry about dieting until the day that you go to bed and realize that you didn’t even think about smoking all day.  That is when you know that you have turned the corner and it is all downhill from there.