Stop smoking, how not to go back?
A triple dependency to forget
You stopped, congratulations! But it is now that the difficulties begin. You do not have one but three dependencies to overcome: physical, psychic and behavioral.
Physical dependence is the main cause of problems. It appears more or less quickly and not in all smokers. This dependence is due to the nicotine present in the tobacco, which reaches the brain in 7 to 10 seconds in the form of "shoots", providing a pleasant sensation. At the same time, nicotine works by increasing calorie expenditure and reducing appetite. Withdrawal then leads to the risk, often feared, of weight gain. Relapses during withdrawal treatments are essentially related to lack of nicotine. Regular intake of nicotine in the form of gums, patches or inhaler allows progressive weaning and reduces the effects of lack in smokers, without maintaining the addiction.
Psychic dependence is related in fact to the different pleasures of smoking: feeling of relaxation, satisfaction, intellectual stimulation ... cigarette will also be appreciated for its tranquillizing and antidepressant effects. This dependence then translates into the need to keep or regain these sensations.
Finally, behavioral addiction, one of the strongest. Some places, people or circumstances make you want to smoke. The behavioral dependence is then illustrated by a kind of conditioned reflex. We turn on cigarette by automatism and not by necessity: drinking a coffee, working on his computer ... Two mechanisms are responsible. The first is a positive reinforcement: when you smoke, you feel pleasure that reinforces the desire to take a cigarette. When one stops for some time, one experiences a lack that will reinforce this desire in a negative way. We end up being conditioned to smoke regularly. This dependence appears as soon as you consume more than 5 cigarettes per day.
