The Mechanisms of Addiction: Why is Quitting Smoking So Hard?

They say quitting smoking is as hard, or possibly even harder, as quitting serious drugs. If you have not experienced smoking cessation before, you might see that as a little dramatic – but you should be under no illusion that quitting smoking is anything less than monumentally tough.

While the withdrawal symptoms are not even close to the excruciating recovery from hard drugs, the physical withdrawal from smoking and the mental pull of the habit is relentless. The constant internal dialogue of “I would love a cigarette right now” takes months to abandon you and repeats mercilessly, like a stuck record. 

Your Own Worst Enemy

It is almost like having a small demon resting on your shoulder for several weeks. An unhelpful and annoying little creature who constantly whispers sweet nothings such as “Go on, one cheeky smoke won’t kill you.” 

But why does that rueful demon exist, and why is quitting smoking so hard? Apart from the obvious element of addiction, what is it about smoking that makes it so overwhelmingly challenging to walk away from?

Through this article, we are going to take a look – starting with the chief culprit of nicotine.

Nicotine Addiction

Make no mistake about it: nicotine is a drug. It does not come with the same connotations as conventional drugs because nicotine is nowhere near as harmful as your run-of-the-mill cocaine or heroin. But they are all drugs, and they are all crushingly addictive.

Nicotine works by stimulating the brain, binding to receptors, and releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter that governs pleasure. This process creates a gratifying sensation, reinforcing the habit and slowly building dependence as the brain craves those lovely, warm dopamine releases. 

Less Harmful

By the same token, comparing nicotine to heroin is almost like comparing a firecracker to a wheelbarrow full of live hand grenades. Both are explosives in the literal sense of the word, but the consequences of igniting either one are entirely different. One offers a playful little pop, while the other offers… let’s not beat around the bush; severed limbs, basically.

You can view nicotine in the same light, as it is no less addictive than heroin. The major difference is that the former will definitely not result in the tragic demise and destruction of your life, while the latter probably will. 

In other words, you can live a perfectly normal life while addicted to nicotine, much in the same way that you can live a perfectly normal life unwittingly addicted to sugar or caffeine. The problem with smoking is less about the nicotine and more about the delivery method: those evil little cancer sticks we call cigarettes.

Breaking News – Cigarettes Are Bad

Just in case you have been living in a cave, cigarettes are awful. Truly awful. They suck you in at an impressionable young age, sneakily force addiction upon you, then sink their claws into every fibre of your now whiffy, yellow-tinted, out-of-pocket existence (at almost £16 per pack, smoking is anything but cheap, these days). 

After sinking their claws in, they stubbornly refuse to let go. As you grow older and wiser, you realise how awful cigarettes are, but by now, addiction has firmly set in. You are a daily cigarette smoker, one of 1.3 billion worldwide who are aware of how gloriously stupid it is but are unable to stop. 

At the heart of this addiction lies nicotine, but that isn’t really the problem. The real danger of smoking owes to the seven thousand chemicals you are inhaling with each puff, some of which have remarkably menacing names such as formaldehyde, cyanide, and ammonia. The other six thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven are not far behind in the ‘remarkably menacing names stakes’, either, and that’s before we even mention the lung-plastering tar bestowed upon you.

We shall revisit nicotine later. For now, let’s address the second part of smoking addiction. For some people, this is the toughest aspect: the deeply ingrained psychology of it. 

Pavlov’s Dog

Ivan Pavlov was a neurologist famous for devising the ‘classical conditioning’ theory through a world-famous experiment involving a bell and a dog, commonly referred to as ‘Pavlov’s dog’.

Pavlov demonstrated an intriguing concept through his experiments. Each time he fed his dogs, he would ring a bell. Gradually, the dogs learned to connect the bell with mealtime and eventually, the mere sound of the bell alone – even without any food in sight – was enough to make his dogs drool. His four-legged friends had made a psychological connection between the bell and the food.

Cigarettes are of a similar Pavlovian principle. Smokers associate a vast number of actions and events with lighting up a cigarette, and when those behaviours become ingrained, they find it difficult to dissociate upon quitting. They are conditioned to light up when engaged in specific habitual actions, and those habits become baked into their DNA, metaphorically speaking. 

The Associations 

For a newly crowned ex-smoker, trying to enjoy a beer without a cigarette is like trying to enjoy a film at the cinema, completely alone, the day after a long-term partner has broken up with them. The sudden, terrific sense of loneliness and heartache would have them pining for their ex-partner in the same way a smoker would pine for a cigarette in a beer garden. 

This Pavlovian bell ringing affects everything, and the ‘ding’ is ferociously abundant. Finished eating? Ding, time for a smoke. Glass of wine? Ding, time for a smoke. Something awful happened? Ding, commiserate with a smoke. Received good news? Ding, celebrate with a smoke. 

Driving, walking the dog, watering the garden; ding, ding, ding, etcetera, et al. 

The point is that smoking goes hand in glove with seemingly every innocuous day-to-day activity. As soon as you remove the cigarettes, each activity suddenly feels devoid of something essential, and it hurts psychologically – an unscratchable itch.

However, much in the same way we Pavloved into smoking, we can also Pavlov out of it by satisfying each and every ‘ding.’ We will show you how, very soon.

But first, the final chapter of the mechanism of smoking addiction: the dreaded withdrawal. 

The Cluck

So, why is quitting smoking so hard, and what have we learnt so far? Probably nothing you didn’t already know, but one thing is clear: it is the nicotine withdrawal and the familiarity that causes the suffering when you quit smoking. 

After quitting smoking, in sufficient time, your body will adjust and recalibrate post-withdrawal. Slowly but surely, your brain goes through adjustments, and it learns to function without nicotine. This will cause discomfort initially, but the body’s craving for nicotine always decreases over time. 

The brain slowly adjusts its chemistry, reduces the need for nicotine-induced dopamine releases, and enables recovery from the addiction.

Old Habits Die Hard

You will also recover mentally. Those common bell-ringing associations will erode, becoming long-forgotten things of the past. Eventually, you will drive the car, walk the dog, water the garden, celebrate, commiserate, and enjoy a lovely drink in a gorgeous beer garden without wasting a single second thinking about cigarettes.

The day will come, usually within a few months, when you will be free of the mental and physical angst. But that leaves one final problem: what to do in the meantime? 

The NEAFS Solution

We didn’t create NEAFS as a smoking cessation tool, but thousands are using it for precisely that reason, with incredible success.

NEAFS provides relief by supporting you with something remarkable: the experience of smoking a traditional nicotine cigarette without actually smoking one. 

With NEAFS, You are not smoking – you just feel like you are – and therein lies the sheer genius of it. You will quit cigarettes and replace the dreadful habit of smoking with something far healthier, cheaper, cleaner, and more convenient. It even smells pretty great, too.

What’s the Catch?

There isn’t one. Our clever little TEO device works by heating, and not burning, a unique blend of tea leaves and cellulose called NEAFS sticks. By doing so, you are still getting your nicotine but have now removed several thousand of the gruesome chemicals from the equation. Not to mention the tar, the awful smell, and the growing expense. 

Again, nicotine isn’t the main problem with smoking; the delivery method is. While nicotine has its fair share of negatives, such as addiction, cardiovascular issues, increased blood pressure and even developmental risks, there is also evidence to suggest it enhances alertness, reduces stress, and offers neuroprotection. 

Make the Jump Today

If you are reading this as a long-suffering smoker who is tired of unsuccessfully quitting, using NEAFS sticks with a TEO device could be a major turning point for you. 

If you remove the delivery method of cigarettes and replace it with NEAFS tea-based nicotine sticks, you are no longer a smoker in the traditional sense, but you can continue to enjoy the feeling of smoking while maintaining your usual nicotine input.

But It gets even better: after you have been using NEAFS nicotine sticks for a while, you can gradually transition to our nicotine-free sticks while you taper off. If you want to, that is. 

Interested in becoming an ex-smoker without the awful adjustment period? Or maybe you would simply like to continue smoking without actually smoking? 

If so, you should make the jump and wash your hands of smoking for good with NEAFS. Check out our life-changing starter bundles and join the growing legion of people who have ditched the ciggies with NEAFS!