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Articles that will help you quit smoking
Nicotine is certainly one of the most addictive substances known. Lots of studies have shown that a person can get addicted to nicotine as quickly as to cocaine and other illegal drugs that we generally relate to crippling addictions. That's why, of course, that is can be so difficult to quit smoking. Besides this physical addiction - i.e. the body's craving of nicotine - there is a psychological component: it can be difficult to avoid smoking completely because it is both legal and socially acceptable in many situations. If you want to quit smoking, you need a comprehensive plan that deals with both the physical and psychological side of the addiction. Using a nicotine patch is one way to address the physical addiction to nicotine that will leave yourself free to concentrate on the psychological aspects of your addiction.
Among all medical aids to quitting smoking, the nicotine patch is certainly the oldest and the best-known. How do nicotine patches work? They are placed on the skin and release a slow and steady supply of nicotine into the bloodstream. The idea is that the patch helps wean your body off nicotine. That way, instead of nicotine being immediately absent from your system when you quit smoking, it is gradually reduced.
The patch's purpose is to break your body's desire for nicotine "spikes." Your body receives an immediate spike in its nicotine levels when you smoke a cigarette. As the level of nicotine in your bloodstream slowly dissipates after the spike, it will eventually drop to a point where you will desire to have it "topped up" again and that's when your body will crave for another cigarette. If you imagine a graph of your body's nicotine levels when you smoke, you would see a steady series of peaks and valleys - the peaks correspond to the spike in nicotine levels when you smoke a cigarette. On the other hand, when wearing the patch, the graph of your nicotine levels would show a steady line: if the line wouldn't be as high as your peaks, it wouldn't be as low as your valleys either. The patch therefore goes for the middle ground, and your body slowly adjusts to not having spikes in its nicotine levels.
Once you are used to lower levels of nicotine in your system, you will be able to reduce the dosage of the patches you wear, until eventually your body is nicotine free. In addition, another good thing about the patch is that it is an extremely strong deterrent against smoking. Indeed, if you smoke while you're on the patch, your levels of nicotine will become too high. You could then suffer from a nicotine overdose, which can result in sickness and even death.
Although the patch is a very effective quit smoking aid, it does, however, have some disadvantages. First, it is fairly expensive. In fact, at the early stages of quitting smoking it can often cost more than cigarettes did. Second, the patch can also cause sleeping problems if you wear it to bed. At the same time, if you don't you wear it you will wake up with no nicotine in your system and you will feel pretty bad until you put on a morning patch and it starts working. The patch may have its drawbacks, but it remains the medical aid of choice for people dealing with serious nicotine addictions and wanting to quit smoking.
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