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Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known. Study
after study shows that one can get addicted to nicotine as
quickly as cocaine and other illegal drugs that we generally
associate with crippling addictions. It is for this reason, of
course, that is can be so difficult to quit smoking. One top of
this physical addiction - that is, the body's craving of
nicotine - there is a psychological component: because smoking
is both legal and socially acceptable in many situations, it can
be difficult to avoid it completely. Any attempt to quit
smoking, therefore, should involve a comprehensive plan that
deals with both the physical and psychological side of the
addiction. One way to address the physical addition to nicotine,
to leave yourself free to concentrate on the psychological
aspects of your addiction, is to use a nicotine patch.
The nicotine patch is one of the oldest, and certainly
best-known, medical aids to quitting smoking. Patches are placed
on the skin, and work by releasing a slow and steady supply of
nicotine into the bloodstream. The idea is that the patch helps
wean your body off nicotine - instead of nicotine being
immediately absent from your system when you quit smoking, it is
gradually reduced.
The way the patch works is to break your body's desire for
nicotine "spikes." When you smoke a cigarette, your body
receives an immidiete spike in its nicotine levels. As the level
of nicotine slowly dissipates after the spike, it will
eventually drop to a point where you desire to have it "topped
up" again - the need for another cigarette. If you picture a
graph of your body's nicotine levels when you smoke, you would
see a steady series of peaks and valleys - the peaks
corresponding to the spike in nicotine levels when you smoke a
cigarette. A graph of your nicotine levels when wearing the
patch, on the other hand, would show a steady line: the line
wouldn't be as high as your peaks, but it wouldn't be as low as
your valleys either. The idea is that the patch goes for the
middle ground, and your body slowly adjusts to not having spikes
in its nicotine levels.
As you become more and more used to lower levels of nicotine in
your system, you can reduce the dosage of the patches you wear,
until eventually your body is nicotine free. Another good thing
about the patch is that it is an extremely strong deterrent
against smoking: if you smoke while you're on the patch, your
levels of nicotine will become too high and you could suffer
from a nicotine overdose, which can result in sickness and even
death.
The patch is a very effective stop smoking aid. It does,
however, have some disadvantages: it is fairly expensive, and at
the early stages of quitting it can often cost more than
cigarettes did. The patch can also cause problems with sleeping
if you wear it to bed - and at the same time if you don't you
will wake up with no nicotine in your system, and feel pretty
bad until you put on a morning patch and it starts working.
Despite these drawbacks, the patch remains the medical aid of
choice for people dealing with serious nicotine addictions.
About the author:
Brandon C. Hall maintains Free Info Blog which
contains many articles and resources to quit
smoking as well as many other topics.
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