There is a popular myth among smokers that suddenly giving up smoking is harmful and has serious consequences for the body. Many people prefer to prolong this process and gradually reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day. In fact, everything is not that scary and doctors have a definite 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 occurs in just a few months, 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, 250 of which are toxic. An organism used to nicotine needs new doses every hour and a half. After two hours of abstinence, blood pressure may rise and a person will feel nervous. However, if you get overwhelmed and don't smoke for at least three days, it becomes a lot easier.
Practice shows that the leakage of cigarettes is a dead end. Most of the time, the smoker still breaks down and reverts to the previous nicotine dose. But suddenly quitting nicotine can actually work.
What happens in the body
When you stop using nicotine every day, the following changes occur in the human body:
- Increased blood flow. The blood begins to flow more actively to the brain and heart. After a while, blood pressure stabilizes and the recovery of blood vessels that were damaged during the addiction period begins.
- normalization of bowel function. The gastrointestinal microflora suffers greatly from carcinogens that the smoker inhales with smoke. A sharp rejection of nicotine stabilizes the intestine, vitamins and nutrients are better absorbed.
- Restore immunity. In people with nicotine addiction, the immune system is weakened and cannot fully perform its functions. You have probably noticed that smokers get sick much more often than people without addictions.
- Oxygen supply to the body. Due to the fact that the ventilation of the lungs improves, more oxygen begins to enter the body. The tiredness 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. The following side effects may occur if you suddenly stop tobacco:
- Anxiety and irritability. The first effect a person who quits smoking will feel. It can occur after two to three hours of abstinence.
- Slight dizziness. It is caused by a lack of oxygen - the vascular tone returns to normal, and this takes time. It takes place on average per day.
- Beginning of dyspnea. Another consequence of the lack of oxygen, but here the reason is the recovery of the lungs. It goes away completely in a month or less, usually a week or two.
- Decreased appetite. It is most pronounced in the first few days of abstinence. The appetite comes back within a week. In addition, a person begins to feel the abundance of taste in food that they did not even know about before.
- cough. The toxic substances accumulated in the smoker's lungs are removed from the body, and therefore a cough occurs. The cough is often accompanied by phlegm and phlegm. It decreases after a month and completely disappears 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 in three to four days, but you can use medication to suppress anxiety and help you sleep better.
As we can see, there are no serious side effects that can seriously harm the body. Of course, sharp smoking cessation takes a lot of willpower, especially in the early days, but nothing is dangerous to your health. On the contrary, after just a week of abstinence, a person feels much better than during 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 a whole ritual, everyone has their own. Someone smokes a cigarette before breakfast, someone does not imagine how to wait for public transport and not smoke, and coffee with a cigarette in general is sacred. It can be extremely difficult to give up such little habits and start your life from scratch.
If the willpower is insufficient to stop smoking abruptly, you can turn to your family and friends. Let them get distracted by bad thoughts and provide maximum support. Another option is to ask a psychologist for help. There is nothing shameful about that.
Smoking and women
A separate myth in this category concerns women - how harmful is it for them to stop smoking suddenly? For example, it is believed that pregnant women shouldn't give up nicotine suddenly. They say this will create stress that will negatively affect the baby. Indeed, doctors strongly recommend that in such a situation, the addiction should be given up immediately. Every cigarette smoked affects the development of the fetus.
The situation is the same with the myth that you cannot quit smoking during your period. Indeed you can. Nothing negative happens to the body on a physiological level, difficulties can only arise on a psychological level. Another misconception is that suddenly stopping tobacco affects the effectiveness of the medication you are taking. However, there is not a single scientifically proven case where drugs change their pharmacological properties due to a severe cessation of nicotine absorption into the body.
Buffs
The positive changes in the body have been described above. Now we will describe the effects that are more noticeable to a former smoker:
- The skin looks fresher. The yellowish color of the epidermis disappears when more minerals, vitamins and oxygen enter the blood. Healthy skin color returns about six months after you quit tobacco.
- Increased sensitivity to taste and smell. The smoker's olfactory and taste buds are not functioning at full capacity. The longer a person smokes, the more boring they become. When you give up the addiction, you can feel the abundance of tastes and smells.
- Improve tone. Strength, increased activity, lack of fatigue. A former smoker feels all of this. It will be possible to forget about discomfort and feelings of apathy.
In summary, we can say - you can suddenly stop smoking! And even necessary. There will be no serious negative consequences for the body.