I want to smoke again: 5 tips to avoid relapsing to tobacco

Tobacco use is an addictive habit widespread throughout the world, to such an extent that certain professional bodies have categorized it as a "near pandemic" event.

It is estimated that 3 out of 10 people on Earth smoke, which reports an astronomical total figure of 1,300 million smokers throughout the planet. We are not surprised, with these data, that 15% of deaths in the European Union are directly due to tobacco.

As indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), up to half of the people who develop nicotine dependence end up dying from it. Each year, more than 8 million addicted patients die from this substance, since people who smoke Cigarettes increase up to 30 times the probability of developing lung cancer throughout your life. life.

With all these data in hand, we can only agree with those who argue that "not smoking is the healthiest thing a person can do in their entire lives." In any case, as with any addictive substance, quitting tobacco becomes a daunting task and the failure rate when trying to quit nicotine is almost universal.

If your brain tells you "I want to smoke again", do not despair: here we present 5 tips to avoid relapsing into tobacco.

• Related article: "The effects of tobacco on the brain"

"I want to smoke again": how to avoid relapse into tobacco

Nicotine is a drug and therefore people who smoke are addicted. The first step is to recognize the individual state and not deny reality: nicotine reports up to 5 times more dependency than cocaine, so if one seems socially dangerous, the other is just the same or more.

Based on this premise, we deal with this subject taking into account that the addicted person is a patient with a psychological disorder, specifically a Substance Use Disorder, and relapse is one more step in this picture. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) conceives of addiction as a disease in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, so it requires specific treatment.

After making this concept clear, we present you with 5 tips to avoid relapsing into tobacco once you have managed to quit. Do not miss it.

1. Know your condition: you will see that what happens to you is normal

As they say, knowledge is power. Sometimes, the things that happen inside our body seem like a work of magic, but nothing is further from reality: living beings we are chemicals, hormones and neural connections.

When nicotine enters the human body, it passes into the blood and then into the brain in a matter of seven seconds. Once in brain tissue, it stimulates neurons in the nucleus accumbens, responsible for releasing dopamine and norepinephrine, vital hormones and neurotransmitters when activating the reward system. Therefore, when consuming this drug, the patient feels an extremely punctual and fast, but intense relief.

The problem is that the neurons get used to the substance, so arousal and dopamine release require increasing amounts of the drug. This is how the typical tolerance of addicted patients is produced. With these data, we want to tell you that it is normal for your brain to "seek" this immediate reward in the form of an addictive substance, especially at extreme moments on an emotional level.

If you feel you want to smoke again, we encourage you to learn about the physiological and neurological mechanisms involved in substance addictions, especially nicotine. If you know your condition, you will be better able to verbalize your feelings with a professional and you will stop feeling so powerless in the face of something that is, in fact, partly out of your control.

2. Learn to manage stress

scientific article Anxiety and Tobacco, published in the journal Psychosocial Intervention, cites that the most stressful people are more likely to start smoking. Curiously, many people start smoking to manage stress, but being addicted greatly increases the feeling of general anxiety and discomfort.

Stress, anxiety and tobacco are sides of the same coin: if you want to beat your addiction, you have to learn to manage the underlying stress that led you to it in the first place. There are multiple techniques that will help you do this, but it is best that you deal with all these issues with a professional in the field. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, deep breathing, occupational therapy, and many other mechanisms can help control stress.

• You may be interested in: "Drug withdrawal syndrome: its types and symptoms"

3. Try nicotine medication

As indicated by the Mayo Clinic, medications with low nicotine content can help patients better cope with moments of intense urge to smoke. We remember that an addiction is a disease and, as such, sometimes it is necessary to resort to the pharmacological field as a primary approach. Do not see it as a defeat: drugs are there to help you when you cannot achieve something on your own.

4. get physically active

As soon as you notice that your urge to use tobacco grows, put on your sweatpants and go for a run. While you exercise you cannot smoke and, in addition, you will release endorphins and other compounds in the process that will help you feel better.

Finally, it should be noted that With physical activity, unconsciously, breathing is regulated, something very useful to combat involuntary hyperventilation that occurs in moments of intense anxiety. Staying active is the best ally when it comes to overcoming an adverse situation on an emotional level.

5. Analyze your impulses and discover the stressors

If you feel like you want to smoke again, focus not on what you're feeling in the moment, but on what events have brought you to the moment frame. Think about what has happened in your life recently, what have been the main changes and even, if you want, write down on a piece of paper What do you think is what made you want to use tobacco again?.

Ideally, you should discuss your immediate feelings with a psychologist in the future, as he will help you to elucidate the possible stressors that have led you to associate nicotine with the welfare. If this is not possible, you can also try to perform this analysis on your own.

final notes

If you relapse into tobacco despite having put all these tips into practice, have the following concept as a maximum: do not feel guilty. Of all the people who try to quit smoking, 75% relapse and, on average, it takes a person three attempts to get rid of the habit permanently. allow yourself to fail then As a patient, it is normal for you to make mistakes and not know how to manage your clinical picture on your own.

If you relapse into your addiction, don't think about it anymore and channel your frustration into planning a new action plan. If you have not been able to deal with addiction on your own, look for professionals who will support you and teach you the right tools to learn to control your impulses. With perseverance and medical attention, you will undoubtedly be able to leave your addiction behind.