You are serious in the idea of giving up smoking. You may have already tried. You want some help! That is why you are reading this.

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The tobacco companies will tell you that you are addicted to nicotine (then they can sell you a nicotine patch!). However, the levels of nicotine in your body will start to fall 45 minutes after your last cigarette. Despite this you WILL have been able to go longer than this without a cigarette – when you have been asleep, in a cinema or on a long haul flight. You WILL have noticed that the urge for the next cigarette increases massively as soon as you know that it is possible to have it.

So we can say that the need for a cigarette is psychological.

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How does this work?

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Nicotine induces our primitive brain to creates flight or fight response that activates the body to respond to a threat. The sense of “buzz” that this creates leaves us with a temporary sense of well-being that allows us temporarily to override feelings of anxiety or distress. It acts as a reward to the brain. However, the stimulation that this creates adds to the anxiety and stress that we are trying to relieve.

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We need rewards. We cope better when we have a positive reward for our actions and interactions. We know that this produces neurotransmitters such as serotonin that promote mentally healthy behaviour - that enables us to feel good and cope better.

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Nicotine provides a substitute for these neurotransmitters and precludes us from finding healthier rewards. Once our primitive brain has developed this template it will always urge us to repeat this action. Like a child having a tantrum it will create all kinds of reasons why we should cave into this demand. Like a child, when it knows it can't get its way it will create havoc and urge us to give in to its wants.

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