To quit smoking one must break two circuits that have been developed, physiological dependence and psychological dependence.  Click here to learn how to break these circuits.

Years of using nicotine, whether it is from smoking, or smokeless chewing tobacco, create a neural imprint in your brain. Your habits and actions support this imprint, and are support by the physiology effects of nicotine. 

Thousands of studies have been performed on nicotine and its effect on the body. These are laboratory studies.  Doctors for years have been able to see the effects first hand, not needing the manuscript of a 5 year study to tell them the obvious.  Smoking and nicotine have effects on the lungs, leading to emphysema, and on the the arteries in the extremities, known as the peripheral arteries, leading to peripheral vascular disease.  What happens in both these cases?

Emphysema

The lungs are made of spongy like material.  Thinking of the lungs like a sponge, imagine them soaking up oxygen.  Much like a sponge soaks up a lot of water when it is brand new, so do the lungs, but they are meant to soak up oxygen.  Now fast forward 10 years, and the sponge has been sitting in the dark dusty grimy corner of the garage.  Parts of that sponge start to crumble and break off.  Some parts within the sponge crumble leaving  big holes.  Now, it doesn't soak up water like it use to.  Well the same is true for the lungs when smoking has damaged them.  Emphysema is the condition where the lungs loose their ability to help oxygen transfer into the body, because of "crumbling and damage" to the tissues of this living sponge. When someone smokes tobacco, the "damaged tissue" creates big holes in the lung.  This means there is less surface area to absorb oxygen.  Once this tissue has died, it doesn't grow back, but instead, leaves scars in the lungs which restrict the tissue movement, much like the old crumbled sponge in your garage. 

Peripheral Vascular Disease

Arteries are like pipes.  Arteries have several layers.  The middle layer is the thickest, and is composed of small muscle tissue.  The inner layer is a thin lining, much like a Teflon ® coating, helping blood / fluids glide effortlessly through the body. Narrowing of the arteries, or peripheral vascular disease, starts at this inner lining. Cracks in this lining are initially sealed by a process that involves platelets.  These tiny little particles that plug holes / cracks in arteries are the one of the reasons we don't bleed to death when we cut ourselves.  After they plug a crack in the lining of an artery, the platelets initiate the rest of the repair process, which involves the placement of a "patch".  Cholesterol makes up part of this patch.  After this patch is placed, the fluid / blood flowing through the area doesn't flow  as smooth. The fluid then flows more turbulently, which creates back currents behind the "patches".  This turbulent flow can create more problems to a "patch", leading to an increase in its size, and thus a narrowing of the artery. Scientists believe that nicotine causes damage to the inning lining of the artery, speeding up the process of narrowing. As a "patch" becomes bigger, there become areas behind them, much like the still areas in a river behind a big rock.  In these areas where little flow takes place, clots can form.  Clots grow in size, then break loose and travel down stream, finally blocking an artery when it becomes to narrow to pass.  This is the cause of heart attacks, and strokes. 

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