Quit Smoking Tools

It needs no telling that smoking is the harmful and bad habit that welcomes death. The slogan "stop smoking" is strong in voice but very frail in application. However, there are some people who trying to find out the effective product or tools to quit smoking. Mental stability is the first and vital tool for giving up smoking. Some experiments may give some effective information about this habit.

In April 1994, the world was changing. In South Africa, after many years of oppression, black people voted in the first free and fair elections and Nelson Mandela duly became its first president of the new democracy. In April 1994, seven tobacco company CEOs stood before congress and declared under oath: "I believe nicotine is not addictive". Had the world really changed?

The term addiction was the contentious issue. The tobacco industry claimed that the pleasure resulting from smoking a nicotine product was a "reinforcer" and not an addiction. The Food and Drug Administrator at the time claimed that nicotine was a "highly addictive" drug and this view was supported by various other sources during the year including the surgeon general who reported that nicotine had addictive properties similar to those of cocaine or heroin.

Although 1994 is not that long ago, things have subsequently changed. South Africa is coming to terms with its new democracy and finding its place in the world. The tobacco industry has now stated that in today's terms, nicotine is addictive. The controversy has around the addictiveness has led to mistrust of the tobacco industry as reports were leaked from as far back as 1963 where it was stated that they knew nicotine is addictive and that they were "in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug."

Addiction to nicotine is caused by the release of dopamine to the brain. Dopamine releases feeling of pleasure into the brain, because of the enjoyment it receives, the body tries to duplicate this effect as often as possible, which then creates the craving for more nicotine and thus another cigarette. The nicotine in a cigarette reaches the brain in a very short period of time (a few seconds) and thereby gives instant gratification. It remains in the brain for less than an hour and when broken down completely that's when the cravings will begin again. The process of breaking down nicotine occurs at different rates for different people and thus some people's cravings occur less frequently. Over time, however, this ability is stunted and the frequency of cravings will increase.

There are warning labels of different sorts printed on cigarette packs, warning about the addiction or how it is dangerous to your health. This is how the tobacco industry has changed its stance. Opening the doors for information to flow to the general public, with no doubts about whether or not tobacco products are harmful to an individual. To combat any epidemic, the first steps are to create awareness. The key to this is the free flowing availability of information that is beyond doubt. There are in excess of 5 million tobacco smoking related deaths each year world wide, 3.5 million of them occur in low to middle income countries and more than 400 000 of them take place in the USA. These deaths are preventable.