If suddenly there was a free magic pill that would immediately break someone’s addiction to nicotine and remove the craving to smoke, what percentage of smokers do you think would take the pill and never smoke again? If you continued to smoke you would still increase your chances of getting cancer dramatically.
My guess is around 50% of smokers would take the pill. According to this report 70% say they want to quit, but I think for many people they would still smoke, perhaps less often, even if they weren’t addicted. For at least some people smoking is an enjoyable pastime, makes them feel cool and helps them keep their weight down.
Some of the smokers I know smoke because they aren’t really happy with life and they know it’ll take years off their life. So for them they aren’t giving it up either.
I would take the pill but not sure how much it would help. I quit for a week at a time sometimes and don’t feel any notable cravings that last for more than a minute or two. It doesn’t feel like so much of a physical addiction as it does emotional.
I’ve heard that even occasional smokers will dramatically increase their smoking when they are under stress, just like some people will dramatically increase their eating when they are stressed.
Not being a smoker I’ve always wondered how smoking reduces stress for smokers, whether it’s something to do with the inhaled chemicals (physiological) or if it’s just makes them feel better (psychological) because it takes their mind off of the stress, or if it’s a combination of the two.
I am not so sure if it has a calming effect on me or helps my concentration. For example, I never smoke when relaxing, watching TV, or just gazing at the stars. I smoke most when on the computer. I have a fan next to my computer which is next to a window and I shut the door. I like to smoke when I am working and take short breaks. Driving the car can be a trigger for me to smoke but I try to avoid it. Talking on the phone is a trigger. Any kind of talking or typing is a trigger for that matter.
I would say less than 50%; maybe as few as 20%. There are a lot of various reasons to smoke/that start you smoking and despite what people may say they want to do I doubt many would actually go through with it. Not that many more than quit now without a miracle pill.
I’ll tell you something I found weird. Some years ago I had a long, involved dental procedure. It was basically a root canal, but it turns out that everything to do with my fucking teeth becomes more complicated than anyone originally thought it would. So this took something like three hours, and two sets of numbing shots, and I found it very traumatic.
So as soon as I got out of the dentist’s office I sought comfort in a cigarette, which always provides comfort in that sort of situation. My mouth was still numb and it provided no comfort. So I smoked another one–one is usually enough, in fact the first 1/4 of one is usually enough–and it still didn’t help. Because my mouth was numb.
This was kind of a revelation to me. I had always thought it was the nicotine. But smoking two, I had undoubtedly got the nicotine hit. Usually if I’ve gone more than 4 hours without a smoke I can feel the first one, but not this time.
Yeah I have no idea why smoking reduces the stress, not to mention why it doesn’t when your mouth is numb.
Don’t have a cite but I remember reading somewhere that inhaling nicotine releases dopamine receptors in your brain. The more dopamine you need, the more you smoke. It’s the major reason why many people who have depression-related and other issues smoke: It’s a form of self-medication.
It’s the same thing, I think, when it comes to smoking = stress release. Nonsmokers were the minority back when I was in the restaurant business. Ditto most retail. Actually, anything involving customer service.
Not everybody is a candidate for it. If you’re being treated for any kind of mental health issue careful consideration must be made because it will contradict certain medications. I know this from personal experience.
I know some people who say they know smoking is bad for them, and they would quit if it was easy, but in actuality don’t want to quit. They enjoy smoking and if all of a sudden they didn’t need to smoke they would feel they were missing out on something. “It helps me relax and reduce stress” is something I’ve heard before from a smoker. If that’s really true, and it does reduce stress for people then why would they give it up? I assume that some people would happily trade the likelihood of getting very sick 20 years from now for stress relief today.
Yeah, this is a real thing. Given that the current social climate is fairly hostile towards smoking, it is so, so, so much easier to smile and nod with the crowd about how bad smoking is for you and how you really totally want to quit. If you defend smoking for any reason, you will be called a stooge to the tobacco companies, people will negatively question your mental health, (like Wesley Clark did in post #2 in this thread) and people will fall over themselves to complain about every negative encounter they have ever had with a smoker in their life.
So yeah, a lot of the people who say they want to quit are lying. How many? I have no clue.
The fact that smoking has plateaued in the U.S. at least, leads me to believe that many smokers do it because they like it. Are we really gonna say that a perfect proportion of people had the willpower to quit smoking and that there is a steady percentage of people that don’t? I don’t think so.
There is a pill. Chantix. I took it, and it worked. One day I woke up with no cravings. However, the side effects were nausea and vomiting, and night terrors. I don’t know if I’d take it again. P.S. I lasted for 7 years before starting again.