The Great American Smokeout

Each year, the American Cancer Society marks the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or a plan in advance and quit smoking by that date. By quitting – even for one day – smokers will be taking an important step toward a healthier lifestyle. In the U.S., tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death, yet about 43.8 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, roughly 1 in every 5 adults.
Why is quitting smoking so hard? The single-word answer is nicotine. Nicotine is a drug found naturally in tobacco and it is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Over time, a person becomes physically dependent on and emotionally addicted to nicotine. This physical dependence causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit and the emotional and mental dependence make it hard to stay away from nicotine after you quit. Studies have shown that to quit for good, smokers must deal with both the physical and mental dependence.
When you inhale smoke, nicotine is carried deep into your lungs, where it is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and carried throughout the body. Nicotine affects many parts of your body, including the heart and blood vessels, hormones, metabolism and brain. Different factors affect how long it takes the body to remove nicotine and its by-products. In most cases, regular smokers will still have nicotine in their bodies for approximately 3 to 4 days after stopping.
Nicotine causes pleasant feelings and distracts the smoker from unpleasant feelings, making the smoker want to smoke again. Over time, the smoker develops a tolerance to nicotine, which leads to an increase in smoking to keep the level of nicotine in the body within a comfortable range. When a person finishes a cigarette, the nicotine level in the body starts to drop and the pleasant feelings wear off, making the smoker want to smoke again.
When smokers try to cut back or quit, the lack of nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms, which can be both physical and mental. Symptoms usually start within a few hours of the last cigarette and peak about 2 to 3 days later when most of the nicotine and its by-products are out of the body. Withdrawal symptoms can last for a few days to up to several weeks and will get better every day that you stay smoke-free. Withdrawal symptoms can include any of the following:
• Dizziness
• Anxiety, irritability or depression
• Trouble concentrating
• Headaches
• Increased appetite and weight gain
These symptoms can make the smoker start smoking again to boost blood levels of nicotine until symptoms go away. For more information about taking part in the Great American Smokeout, please visit www.cancer.org .