Understanding Nicotine Withdrawal
There are many well-known drugs in the world that lead to serious addiction. For example, most people know about the powers of heroin or of cocaine on the minds of their users, but nicotine is equally powerful too. This is the ingredient of the common cigarette that makes it so incredibly addictive.
There are all kinds of debates and arguments about the legality of nicotine as an additive in cigarettes, particularly because it is such a toxic substance too, but the thing to remember is that someone trying to quit smoking is up against a big challenge. Nicotine has effects on the body and the mind of those who are addicted to it. In fact, someone who coughs and gags through their very first puff on a cigarette may not even have realized that they also experienced a brief moment of euphoria too. This is the reason that billions of people go back to cigarettes after the first negative experience.
Nicotine is a drug that enters the blood stream through the lungs, and from there it will work on major vessels and hormones, including areas of the brain too. Because it effects the nervous system as a depressant, the smoker wants to enjoy more and more cigarettes in order to enjoy that feeling. Over time the nervous system adapts to this pattern and requires more nicotine to generate the same results. This is a vicious cycle because it means a tremendous amount of smoking is required to get the same sense of euphoria.
When someone who smokes more than a pack of cigarettes each day decides to quit they are going to have to deal with a change in their lifestyle, and even more dramatic changes in their body and mind. Nicotine withdrawal is often a leading cause for someone beginning to smoke again, because of the intensity of the urges, but if the smoker can refrain for at least three days they will have gotten through the peak withdrawal period.
Nicotine is processed and excreted by the body quite rapidly, and the contents of a single cigarette will be ninety percent eliminated within two hours of smoking it. The remaining ten percent has a lengthier lifecycle, but the smoker can rest assured that the half-life of the remaining supply of the drug is reduced every two hours. This is how the seventy-two hour withdrawal process is determined, but not all people experience the same length of time. This is the primary reason that most people who are quitting smoking will rely on a nicotine replacement treatment in order to facilitate the process safely and much more comfortably.
