Smoking Cigarettes – Bad Habit or Physical Addiction?

A young man, or boy even, lighting up a cigarette for the first time ever certainly doesn’t need to smoke, he simply wants to try. For most new smokers, the first fag is disgusting. It not only tastes awful, but that initial deep inhale usually results in coughing, gagging, and spitting! Despite it all, many go on to embrace a habit that will affect the way they look, feel, and function as individuals.

It Starts in Childhood

Powerful health warnings do not seem to deter nicotine’s latest victims. Kids tend to persevere with the unpleasantness of smoking until such times as it becomes tolerable and then enjoyable. At this early stage of smoking, it is neither a habit nor an addiction, but merely a desire. The vast majority of new smokers are the young, meaning teens, and in some cases, pre-teens too.

Despite all the education on the dangers of smoking, most youngsters don’t seem to develop a healthy fear for nicotine. However, the older a man gets, the more he begins to respect and worry about his reliance on the drug. If he's still smoking at middle-age, he thinks more about quitting than continuing, although thinking about stopping is something that can, and does in many cases, not leave the thought process for many years.

The Appeal of Smoking

A lot of young people start smoking today for the exact same reasons as the older generations did. They think it looks cool. They think it makes them appear more grown up. Boys in particular believe it gives them a tough persona and an attractive seditious streak.

There’s also a lot of peer pressure resulting in kids smoking who really didn't want to start. And there’s that adolescent rebellious streak that all teenagers have to a greater or lesser degree. There’s just something exciting about doing stuff they’re not meant to be doing, and therein lies its attraction.

When does Smoking Cigarettes become and Addiction?

Anyone smoking long enough and hard enough will get hooked eventually, but how soon and how hooked depends on the individual. There is no specific ‘number’ of cigarettes that when surpassed has the user addicted.

Research used to tell us that it took years before a smoker was fully in the grips of a nicotine addiction, but more recent studies seems to suggest that addiction takes place much sooner. Not everyone is the same though, and some people have naturally addictive personalities whereas others are far more resistant to getting hooked on legal drugs, be that alcohol, pharmaceuticals or nicotine.

One thought is that when the body is able to tolerate smoking from those initial unpleasant symptoms such as coughing, nausea, and dizziness, then a physical dependence has been created which will only become stronger over time.

When does Smoking Cigarettes become Habit?

The 'habit' is not the same as the 'addiction', though it can sometimes be just as much a challenge to overcome. Most experts agree that developing a habit takes far less time than breaking one. Obviously the speed in which the dependency is formed depends on the habit. With regards to smoking, this is an acquired obsession that is executed every single day in the majority of cases, and in most instances over a good number of years.

The Trap of Repetitious Behaviour

Think about it for a minute. A smoker takes a cigarette out of a packet anywhere between 10 and 50 times a day, depending on the individual. The cigarette gets lit and brought up towards the mouth. First comes the inhale followed by the exhale. The arm is lowered. Moments later, this action is repeated. It’s done over and over again until all but the last bit of tobacco is burnt. That’s just one single cigarette.

So you can probably see why a smoker has such problems quitting. They have to deal with both breaking the habit (the obsession), and the addiction (the physical craving), when attempting to stop. The only way to avoid the discomforts of quitting smoking is to never light up in the first place, but of course, there will never be a shortage of new smokers.

There is Help Out there!

There are many stop-smoking aids available today which help to alleviate the pains of withdrawal. Nicotine replacement therapy is perhaps the most popular with men over 40. Some folks prefer to try one of the numerous alternative options of quitting such as meditation, hypnotherapy, and acupuncture to name but three. But as good as they sound on paper, most of these less conventional methods have proven to be less effective overall than patches, gums, and inhalers.

The Masters of Excuses

The male smoker, in particular, is a master of excuses when it comes to smoking cessation. He's often going to quit on Monday morning, so long as it's not this Monday because this Monday is not a good time for one reason or another. But if all smokers remember this simple fact; " Stopping Smoking NEVER Killed Anyone! ", then it might help them to at least think a little more deeply about why they continue to destroy themselves.