You cannot give up smoking unless you reduce your stress level first.
Here is why: Smokers have found a way to reduce the feeling of stress that they experience on a daily basis and that way is through the calming effects of nicotine.
If you smoke, lighting up is a natural first response to any stressor that you encounter throughout the day.
The effects of nicotine are not psychological, they are physical.
Therefore, no matter how often you are told that quitting is simply mind over matter, unless you make lifestyle changes to reduce the stressors that give you the urge to light up, the likelihood that your efforts to stop smoking will be successful are slim.
Stress causes negative physical reactions in the body.
Thus, a drug such as nicotine that counteracts those reactions can become highly addictive.
When faced with stressors, people often experience tightening of the muscles, a speeding heart rate, increased blood pressure, headache, and other adverse reactions.
Conversely, when people smoke a cigarette, the nicotine depresses the nervous system.
It causes the heart rate to slow, muscles to relax, and the wrinkles in the forehead to disappear.
The stress/smoking combination can easily become a vicious cycle.
Thus, anyone who wants to successfully quit smoking must learn how to reduce their stress levels.
If one's job causes them stress, quitting and becoming unemployed may not be a wise alternative.
Eliminating stress altogether is just not realistic.
Still, if smokers take steps to manage and deal with unavoidable stressors that they encounter throughout the day, they will have fewer reasons to light a cigarette.
A good stress management counselor or a stress reduction program can help smokers deal with both internal and external stressors that may prompt them to smoke.
Uncovering and dealing with deep stress-related issues may be difficult at first, however, if you want to eliminate your nicotine dependency, it will go a long way toward helping you live a cigarette-free life.
Here is why: Smokers have found a way to reduce the feeling of stress that they experience on a daily basis and that way is through the calming effects of nicotine.
If you smoke, lighting up is a natural first response to any stressor that you encounter throughout the day.
The effects of nicotine are not psychological, they are physical.
Therefore, no matter how often you are told that quitting is simply mind over matter, unless you make lifestyle changes to reduce the stressors that give you the urge to light up, the likelihood that your efforts to stop smoking will be successful are slim.
Stress causes negative physical reactions in the body.
Thus, a drug such as nicotine that counteracts those reactions can become highly addictive.
When faced with stressors, people often experience tightening of the muscles, a speeding heart rate, increased blood pressure, headache, and other adverse reactions.
Conversely, when people smoke a cigarette, the nicotine depresses the nervous system.
It causes the heart rate to slow, muscles to relax, and the wrinkles in the forehead to disappear.
The stress/smoking combination can easily become a vicious cycle.
Thus, anyone who wants to successfully quit smoking must learn how to reduce their stress levels.
If one's job causes them stress, quitting and becoming unemployed may not be a wise alternative.
Eliminating stress altogether is just not realistic.
Still, if smokers take steps to manage and deal with unavoidable stressors that they encounter throughout the day, they will have fewer reasons to light a cigarette.
A good stress management counselor or a stress reduction program can help smokers deal with both internal and external stressors that may prompt them to smoke.
Uncovering and dealing with deep stress-related issues may be difficult at first, however, if you want to eliminate your nicotine dependency, it will go a long way toward helping you live a cigarette-free life.
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