It was an overwhelming urge !!!

It took me a long time to realise that this feeling was not an urge to smoke but a feeling that had been linked and in some ways hijacked by smoking.It was in fact a primitive and natural reaction to anxiety. When you think about how you feel when you want to smoke,stop smoking now, do you feel the empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, do you feel your face and shoulders start to tighten and your chest start to feel as though it is being squeezed, do you start to blow as you feel that you cannot catch your breath. If yes you will suprised to learn that I have just described anxiety not the withdrawals from a cigarette. I think all smokers and that included me have the wrong end of the stick when it comes to smoking. I used to think that the feelings above was because my body was asking for more nicotine, and why did I think this. Because I had always been told that is why. When I thought about it though it didn't make sense. If you were to take any drug in the world whether it be illegal or over the counter / prescription drugs, the effects of that drug are from the moment you inrtoduce it to your body until the moment it has fully metabolized out of your body, With Nicotine this was about 72 hours. So why was it that five minutes after I had smoked a cigarette did I forget this fact and start to blame all the feeling I would experience of wanting another. surely there were still things happening due to that last ciggarette.It didn't make sense. This is when i started to look at the other chemical reactions and what could cause this delayed reaction. I found that there is a chemical balance in the body and a very important one. it controls the reactions to stress and anxiety. The two chemicals/hormones involved are Cortisol and DHEA.When you become anxious cortisol is produced by the adrenal gland, which is just above the kidneys. Cortisol is the hormone that triggers a primitive reaction called the flight or fight response. This is done in the face of visible or perceived danger and stress. It prepares the body to either stand and fight off the danger or run away. When you think about how you feel when you want to smoke. does it feel as though you are trapped. as though you want to run away ?When you start smoking large amounts of cortisol is pumped into your body, this level then remains artificially high. giving you the impression that you are permanatly stressed and anxious.Now for DHEA, this hormone should work in conjunction with cortisol, When the the visible or perceived danger or stress has passed the adrenal gland releases DHEA to couteract the cortisol, when the cortisol reacts with the DHEA both return to resting levels. In a way DHEA acts as an all clear signal to both the body and the brain. The normal rise and fall in cortisol is needed to keep us safe and out of danger. It cannot be overidden. And for non-smokers this is what happens. However for smokers the cortisol is permantly very high. Nicotine is a stimulent for DHEA so when you light a cigarette all that happens is that DHEA rises and gives the smoker the impression that they have just cured all there stress and anxiety. However after about an hour the levels of DHEA drop again below the levels of cortisol (that interestingly have never actually dropped) and because of this trigger the fight or flight response again. The problem with coping with this artificial anxiety is that there is no visible reason to feel like this, so you cannot get away from it, even if you run to the ends of the earth, if you do not know what you are scared of how can you get away from it. So you have this regular injection of anxiety placed on you, not only that but the everyday anxieties that we all have are there too. it is just that they have been hijacked by smoking and entwinned into one. The problem with quitting isn't the withdrwal from nicotine, This is slight and often in the background. The real test comes when you experience real anxiety in your everyday life. How do you now cope with it. If you have not developed new coping strategies your mind will see only one option, smoking. However if you have learnt some new skills this will be the third or fourth option. I do not know at what age you started smoking but for me and most it will be before the age of 16. This is an important age for anybody as they are changing from children to adults. The brain and body changes in one very important way. It developes ways to cope with stress and anxiety. That is the main difference between children and adults. There ability to cope. Also due to puberty you have massive amounts of extra cortisol in your system as it is. But if you are lucky enough not to smoke during this time you will develop a natural coping mechanism for stress and anxiety. There was no need for outside intervention. However if you start to smoke at this delecate and important time you hand over all responsibility for stress and anxiety to cigarettes. you never actually learn how to deal with it. So when you quit you feel as though you have given up the only safety net you had for these feelings. This is why people say they have no willpower. Willpower is actually the internal struggle for supremecy. You have your conscious mind saying "I want to quit" and your subconscious mind saying "I will not let you quit" this tug of war will lead to only one thing,Herbal cigarettes, Hightened anxiety and the subconscious mind winning as it will always do. The other thing is that the levels of cortisol do not return to normal just because you have quit, Some people need extra help to get this back to normal in the form of anti-depressants. There is a natural way to do this for most and this is deep breathing (see below) and exercise. Breating and exercise release another set of hormones called endorphins. These help to keep the delicate balance of hormones in the body. So how do you cure this see-saw. First you have to convince your subconscious mind that you know longer need smoking. Not easy but can always be done. Just the fact of what I have told you above should start you to question your beliefs about smoking and why you do it, Not only that but knowing that the way you feel is due to anxiety rather that the need to put something into your body can be very powerful, Take away the need and there is no want.