Nicotine Addiction - Nicotine and Dopamine

Nicotine Addiction - Nicotine and Dopamine

"Imagine three jumbo jets filled to capacity crashing in the United States every single day, 365 days a year, killing everyone on board. Horrific to think about, but this example represents the number of precious lives lost to tobacco day in and day out in the United States alone. Unfortunately, cigarette smoking still tops the list as the most preventable cause of death in the United States today, accounting for 438,000 deaths annually. Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control for 2007 tell us that 20.8% of the U.S. adult population, or 45.3 million people, currently smoke cigarettes.

Nicotine is Highly Addictive
The nicotine in inhaled tobacco smoke moves from the lungs, into the bloodstream and up to the smoker's brain within 7 to 10 seconds. Once there, nicotine triggers a number of chemical reactions that create temporary feelings of pleasure for the smoker, but these sensations are short-lived, subsiding within minutes. As the nicotine level drops in the blood, smokers feel edgy and agitated -- the start of nicotine withdrawal. So, in order to relieve the discomforts, smokers light up another cigarette...and then another..and another. And so it goes -- the vicious cycle of nicotine addiction. One cigarette is never enough, a fact that every smoker knows all too well.

In order to quit smoking successfully for the long term, it helps to understand the nature of nicotine addiction and what it takes to break free of it. In fact, smokers are often surprised to learn that they are addicted to a substance. Many of us believed that smoking was just a bad habit; something we could stop easily when we decided it was time.

Let's take a look at how nicotine affects brain chemistry and begin the educational process that will help us battle this addiction to the ground, once and for all.

Nicotine and Adrenaline
When a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine in the smoke is rapidly absorbed into the blood and starts affecting the brain within 10 seconds. The result is the release of adrenaline, the "fight or flight" hormone. Physically, adrenaline increases a person's heart rate, blood pressure and restricts blood flow to the heart muscle. When this occurs, the smoker experiences rapid, shallow breathing and the feeling of a racing heartbeat. Adrenaline also instructs the body to dump excess glucose into the bloodstream.

Nicotine and Insulin
Nicotine also inhibits the release of insulin from the pancreas, a hormone that is responsible for removing excess sugar from a person's blood. This leaves the smoker in a slightly hyperglycemic condition, meaning he has more sugar in his blood than is normal. High blood sugar acts as an appetite suppressant, which may be why smokers think their cigarettes reduce hunger.

Nicotine and Dopamine
Nicotine activates the same reward pathways in the brain that other drugs of abuse such as cocaine or..... "

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BLOGGER NOTES:
No wonder it seems impossible at first.... use my POWER TOOLS!!
(But not instead of an honest appraisal of our condition)
There is no "Magic Bullet", you will need to avail yourself of every possible weapon and defense system for THIS battle. Just remember: Nobody dies from quitting... it only seems like it at first. The craving stops... whether you smoke or not. So DONT!