The Brain’s Process of Addiction to Smoking
Found in tobacco is an addictive substance called nicotine. When you gives up smoking, it is normal for you to experience nicotine withdrawal as your body learns to adjust to living without the constant influx of nicotine into your system. It fosters a situation of nicotine dependence that usually occurs over a number of years. Withdrawal fom this substance can elicit a varied of symptoms which includes headaches, irritability, nicotine cravings, anxiety, fatigue, depression, and weight gain. If you experience these symptoms after you stop smoking, it can be helpful to understand that you are not alone. Nearly everyone experiences at least some of these symptoms and you should try to remember that, unpleasant as they may be, for most people they are only temporary.
Nicotine can either act as a stimulant or a sedative, depending on the amount taken. The smoker’s body finds an acceptable level of nicotine in order to experience the pleasurable sensations associated with smoking. This chemical from cigarettes increases the activity of dopamine in your brain. This is the chemical substance that elicits pleasurable sensations. Usually, first cigarette of the day is particularly effective at stimulating the dopamine-sensitive neurons in your brain, which is why you often find the first cigarette of the day the most satisfying. During the rest of the day, your nerve cells become accustomed to the effects of nicotine, which is an example of the long-term smoker’s tendency to develop a tolerance to nicotine. It requires an increasingly higher levels of nicotine to be used over time to achieve the same benefits.
As you continually smoke, even more nicotine is required to maintain the level of satisfaction you need. The body, and the nervous system in particular, copes to constantly receiving this expected level of nicotine and will typically exhibit symptoms of withdrawal without it. In general, the severity of the withdrawal symptoms that you will experience once you quit, will all depend on how heavy you smoke. Heavy smokers are more likely to experience pronounced withdrawal symptoms than light smokers. The more nicotine you have learned to tolerate in your blood, then the more likely you are to miss it when you stop. This is why a smoker can still experience a mild form of nicotine withdrawal if they cut down on the amount of cigarettes they smoke rather than quitting completely because the body is responding to the reduced amount of nicotine it is receiving.
Our genetic coding can also affect how the brain responds to certain stimuli. Nicotine stimulates neurological receptors throughout the brain, including the pleasure centers of the brain where we experience gratification through pleasurable experiences like sex or eating our favorite food. The nicotine in cigarettes produces pleasurable feelings while at the same time acting as a depressant by interfering with the flow of information between the nerve cells.
Funded by the National Institute of Health, the Scripps Research Institute, of La Jolle, California, conducted a study on the effects of nicotine on the brain. This study discovered that the brains of laboratory rats exhibited less sensitivity to pleasurable experiences once their nicotine intake was stopped. For several days after they ceased to receive nicotine, the rats experienced anxiety, irritability and depression equivalent to a human going through the same withdrawal. This decreased sensitivity in the pleasure circuits of the brain is a characteristic common to any attempt to stop using an addictive substance.
Photo by Valentin.Ottone
