Smoking and Me

1. Why is smoking bad for me? | British Lung Foundation;
2. Smoking and addiction.
3. Search resources!
4. Aquarius 2012.
5. Alex Rider 5- Scorpia (French Edition);
6. 90 Percent of Smokers in Study Couldn’t Quit After Vaping for One Year.

One year later, are we going to blame the gum for him not being smoke-free? Conley also said he worried this kind of research could deter smokers from using vaping as a cessation tool. He suggested more studies are needed to make proper advisory and regulatory decisions about e-cigarettes. ASH has yet to take a definitive stand on e-cigarettes, but Bostic says he personally recommends vaping as a cessation tool.

And most people will be using e-cigarettes who were smokers before and are also continuing to smoke cigarettes, so there is no positive health impact that way because cigarettes do the damage on health very early on. As regular cigarettes decline in popularity, tobacco firms have jumped into what they see as a burgeoning market.

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Although many young people experiment with cigarettes, other factors influence whether someone will go on to become a regular smoker. As young people become adults, they are more likely to smoke if they misuse alcohol or drugs or live in poverty. These factors make it more likely that someone will encounter stress. The idea that people smoke cigarettes to help ease the signs and symptoms of stress is known as 'self-medication'.

The latest study

Stress is very common, affecting us when we feel unable to cope with unwelcome pressure. It can cause physical symptoms like headaches or breathlessness as well as making people feel irritable, anxious or low. These feelings can alter our behaviour and feeling stressed often makes people drink alcohol or smoke more than usual. Long term stress is also related to anxiety and depression.

Research into smoking and stress has shown that instead of helping people to relax, smoking actually increases anxiety and tension. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxation so people smoke in the belief that it reduces stress and anxiety. This feeling of relaxation is temporary and soon gives way to withdrawal symptoms and increased cravings.

Smoking reduces nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which are similar to the symptoms of anxiety, but it does not reduce anxiety or deal with the underlying causes. In the UK, smoking rates among adults with depression are about twice as high as among adults without depression. People with depression have particular difficulty when they try to stop smoking and have more severe withdrawal symptoms during attempts to give up. Nicotine stimulates the release of the chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is involved in triggering positive feelings.

It is often found to be low in people with depression, who may then use cigarettes as a way of temporarily increasing their dopamine supply.

However, smoking encourages the brain to switch off its own mechanism for making dopamine so in the long term the supply decreases, which in turn prompts people to smoke more. Most people start to smoke before they show signs of depression so it is unclear whether smoking leads to depression or depression encourages people to start smoking.

The most likely explanation is that there is a complex relationship between the two. People with schizophrenia are three times more likely to smoke than other people and they tend to smoke more heavily. One of the most common explanations of this is that people with schizophrenia use smoking to control or manage some of the symptoms associated with their illness and to reduce some of the side effects of their medication. However, there are various factors which may increase the risk for developing schizophrenia and further research is needed to fully understand the link and causal pathway.

Although many people with mental health problems say that they smoke to reduce their symptoms, they usually start smoking before their problems begin. Heavy smoking does not necessarily lead to fewer symptoms of mental health problems in the long term. Any short term benefits that smoking seems to have are outweighed by the higher rates of smoking-related physical health problems, such as lung cancer, that are common in people with mental health problems.

Stopping smoking suddenly through willpower alone 'going cold turkey' is the least effective way to quit. Stopping is more likely to be successful if you plan ahead, have support and choose the right time to try. Your attempt is less likely to work if you are feeling unstable, experiencing a crisis or undergoing significant changes in your life. To prepare for change, think about your relationship with smoking. Understanding the effect that it has on you can boost your motivation to quit.

Think about what you will gain by not smoking, for instance better physical health, fresher breath, improved concentration and more money in your pocket to spend on other things. You may find it helpful to write this down as a reminder of why you want to stop.

Because smoking is often used as a way of coping, smokers need other ways of dealing with stress, anxiety or other problems if they want to stop smoking.

Methods that people have found helpful include meditation and breathing exercises, regular exercise, cutting down on alcohol, eating a well-balanced diet, acupuncture and clinical hypnosis. Counselling or talking things through with a supportive friend or family member and religious or spiritual activities can also help. Making changes takes time and effort - progress is often slow. You may not be able to control all the factors that contribute to your stress, but identifying the source of your anxiety and trying to find ways to reduce or overcome it are as important as finding new ways to cope with it.