There is a widespread myth among smokers that quitting smoking suddenly is harmful and fraught with serious consequences for the body. Many people prefer to prolong this process, gradually reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day. In fact, not everything is so scary and doctors have a clear answer to the question of whether it is possible to quit smoking suddenly. Let us understand.
Nicotine as medicine
Nicotine belongs to the category of "fast" drugs - addiction to it appears only in a few months of use, but it is also quickly abandoned. On average, it may take three to seven days to overcome a bad habit at a physiological level.
Tobacco smoke contains about 4000 chemical compounds, of which 250 are poisonous. An organism accustomed to nicotine requires new doses every hour and a half, after two hours of abstinence, blood pressure may rise, a person will feel nervous. However, if you dominate yourself and do not smoke for at least three days, then things will go much easier.
Practice shows that removing cigarettes from behind is a dead end. Most often, the smoker still breaks down and returns to the previous dose of nicotine. But immediate cessation of nicotine may work.
What happens in the body
If you quit your daily nicotine portion, the following changes will occur in the human body:
- Increased blood flow. Blood begins to flow more actively in the brain and heart. After a while, the blood pressure will stabilize and the restoration of the vessels that were damaged during the period of addiction will begin.
- Normalize bowel function. The gastrointestinal microflora suffers greatly from the carcinogens that the smoker inhales with smoke. With a sharp rejection of nicotine, the intestines stabilize, vitamins and nutrients begin to be absorbed better.
- Restoration of immunity. In people addicted to nicotine, the immune system is weakened, unable to fully perform its functions. You have probably noticed that smokers get sick much more often than people without addiction.
- Oxygenation of the body. Due to improved lung ventilation, more oxygen begins to enter the body. Fatigue disappears, the feeling of weakness during the working day is reduced and sleep is improved.
Side effects
Remember that nicotine is a drug and smoking is an addiction. Like any other drug addiction, it does not go away without a trace, and the first few days a person will not feel very comfortable. The following side effects may occur when you quit smoking suddenly:
- Anxiety and nervousness. The first effect that a person who quits smoking will feel. It may appear after two to three hours of abstinence.
- Mild dizziness. Caused by oxygen starvation - vascular tone returns to normal, and this takes time. It takes place on average per day.
- Onset of dyspnea. Another consequence of oxygen starvation, but here the reason is the restoration of the lungs. It disappears completely after a maximum of one month, usually after one to two weeks.
- Decreased appetite. It is most pronounced in the first days of abstinence. Within a week the appetite returns. Moreover, a person begins to feel the fullness of the taste of food, which he did not even know before.
- Coughing. Toxic substances accumulated in the lungs of the smoker are removed from the body, and therefore a cough appears. Cough is often accompanied by phlegm and mucus. It diminishes after a month, and after six months disappears completely.
- Insomnia. Emotional depression from lack of nicotine makes it difficult for a person to fall asleep. In some cases, insomnia can occur. It disappears on its own after three to four days, but you can use medication to suppress anxiety and better sleep.
As we can see, there are no serious side effects that can cause serious damage to the body. Of course, a sharp cessation of smoking will require a lot of willpower, especially in the early days, but nothing will threaten your health. On the contrary, after just one week of abstinence, a person begins to feel much better than the entire period of nicotine consumption.
Psychological factor
For many smokers, it is much easier to overcome physiological side effects than to deal with psychological addiction. Smoking is a whole ritual, everyone has their own. Someone smokes a cigarette before breakfast, someone does not imagine how you can wait for public transport and not smoke, and coffee with a cigarette is generally sacred. It can be extremely difficult to give up such small habits and completely rebuild your life.
If you do not have the willpower to quit smoking suddenly, you can contact your family and friends. Let them distract bad thoughts and provide maximum support. Another option is to seek help from a psychologist, there is nothing shameful in this.
Smoking and women
A particular myth in this category is about women - how harmful is it for them to quit smoking suddenly? For example, it is believed that pregnant women should not suddenly give up nicotine. They say this will cause stress, which will negatively affect the baby. In fact, doctors strongly recommend that in such a situation it comes to the immediate abandonment of addiction. Any smoked cigarette will affect the development of the fetus.
The situation is the same with the myth that you can not quit smoking during your period. In fact, you can. At the physiological level, nothing negative will happen to the body, difficulties can only arise at the psychological level. Another misconception is that immediate cessation of smoking will affect the effect of the medication taken. However, there is not a single scientifically proven case where drugs change their pharmacological properties due to abrupt cessation of nicotine uptake into the body.
Buffs
Positive changes in the body are listed above, we will now describe the effects that are most noticeable for a former smoker:
- Skin looks fresher. The yellow color of the epidermis disappears as more minerals, vitamins and oxygen begin to enter the bloodstream. Healthy skin color will return to about six months after quitting smoking.
- Increased sensitivity to taste and aroma. The smoker's sense of smell and taste do not function at full capacity, the more the person smokes, the more they become dull. If you give up addiction, you can feel the fullness of taste and aroma.
- Tone enhancement. Power, increased activity, lack of fatigue. All of this is felt by a former smoker. It will be possible to forget illnesses and feelings of apathy.
In summary, we can say - you can suddenly quit smoking! And even necessary. There will be no serious negative consequences for the body.