There is a widespread myth among smokers that quitting smoking suddenly is harmful and fraught with serious consequences for the body. Many people prefer to extend this process by gradually reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Indeed, everything is not so scary, and doctors have an unequivocal answer to the question of whether it is possible to quit smoking abruptly. Let's find out.
Nicotine as a drug
Nicotine belongs to the category of "fast" drugs: addiction to it appears in a couple of months of use, but is also quickly abandoned. On average, it can take three to seven days to overcome a bad habit on a physiological level.
Tobacco smoke contains around 4000 chemical compounds, of which 250 are poisonous. An organism accustomed to nicotine requires new doses every hour and a half, after two hours of abstinence, blood pressure may rise, a person will feel nervous. However, if you prepare and don't smoke for at least three days, things will go much easier.
Practice shows that phasing out cigarettes is a dead end path. Most often, the smoker breaks down again and returns to the previous dose of nicotine. But abruptly stopping nicotine can actually work.
What happens in the body
If you interrupt the daily dose of nicotine, the following changes will occur in the human body:
- Increased blood flow. Blood begins to flow more actively to the brain and heart. After a while, your blood pressure will stabilize and the vessels that suffered during the addiction period will begin to restore.
- Normalization of intestinal function. The gastrointestinal microflora is strongly influenced by the carcinogens that the smoker inhales with the smoke. With a sharp rejection of nicotine, the intestinal function stabilizes, vitamins and nutrients begin to be better absorbed.
- Restoration of immunity. In people with nicotine addiction, the immune system is weakened, it is unable to fully perform its functions. You've probably noticed that smokers get sick much more often than people without addiction.
- Oxygenation of the body. Due to the better ventilation of the lungs, more oxygen begins to enter the body. Fatigue disappears, the feeling of weakness during the working day decreases and sleep improves.
Side Effects
Remember that nicotine is a drug and smoking is an addiction. Like any other drug addiction, it does not go away without a trace, and in the first few days a person will not feel very comfortable. When you stop smoking suddenly the following side effects can occur:
- Anxiety and irritability. The first effect that a person who quits smoking will feel. It can appear after two or three hours of abstinence.
- Slight dizziness. It is caused by lack of oxygen: the vascular tone returns to normal and this takes time. It takes place on average per day.
- Onset of dyspnoea. Another consequence of oxygen starvation, but here the reason is the restoration of the lungs. It disappears completely after up to a month, usually after a week or two.
- Decreased appetite. It is most pronounced in the first few days of abstinence. Your appetite returns within a week. In addition, a person begins to feel the fullness of the taste of food, which he did not even know before.
- Cough. Toxic substances accumulated in the smoker's lungs are removed from the body, and then a cough appears. Cough is often accompanied by phlegm and mucus. It decreases after a month and disappears completely after six months.
- Insomnia. Emotional depression due to a lack of nicotine makes it difficult for a person to fall asleep. In some cases, insomnia can occur. It goes away on its own after three to four days, but medications can be used to suppress anxiety and sleep better.
As we can see, there are no serious side effects that can cause serious harm to the body. Of course, abrupt quitting will require a lot of willpower, especially in the first few days, but nothing will threaten your health. Conversely, after only a week of abstinence, a person begins to feel much better than the entire period of nicotine consumption.
Psychological factor
For many smokers, it is much easier to overcome physiological side effects than to deal with psychological addiction. Smoking is an entire ritual, everyone has their own. Someone smokes a cigarette before breakfast, someone can't imagine how to wait for public transport and not smoke, and coffee with a cigarette is generally sacred. It can be extremely difficult to give up such little habits and completely rebuild your life.
If you don't have enough willpower to quit smoking, you can turn to your family and friends. Let them distract themselves from bad thoughts and provide maximum support. Another option is to seek the help of a psychologist, there is nothing shameful about this.
Smoking and women
A separate myth in this category concerns women: How bad is it for them to stop smoking suddenly? For example, it is believed that pregnant women should not suddenly give up nicotine. They say that this will cause stress, which will negatively affect the baby. Indeed, doctors strongly recommend that in such a situation be the immediate abandonment of addiction. Each cigarette smoked will affect the development of the fetus.
The situation is the same with the myth that you cannot quit smoking during your period. Indeed you can. On a physiological level, nothing bad will happen to the body, difficulties can arise only on a psychological level. Another misconception is that abrupt cessation of tobacco will affect the effect of any medications taken. However, there is not a single scientifically proven case in which drugs change their pharmacological properties due to an abrupt cessation of nicotine intake in the body.
Buff
Positive changes in the body have been written above, now we describe the effects that are most noticeable for a former smoker:
- The skin appears fresher. The yellowish tint of the epidermis disappears, as more minerals, vitamins and oxygen begin to enter the blood. Healthy skin color will return in about six months after you quit smoking.
- Sensitivity to taste and smell increases. Smoker's sense of smell and taste buds don't work at full capacity, the longer a person smokes, the more boring they become. If you give up the addiction, you can feel the fullness of taste and smell.
- Improve the tone. Vigor, increased activity, lack of fatigue. All this is felt by a former smoker. It will be possible to forget ailments and feelings of apathy.
In summary, we can say: you can suddenly quit smoking! It is also necessary. There will be no serious negative consequences for the body.