I Have to Smoke
Because of All My Stress!

Stress is considered a cause for smoking by many people.  Actually, smoking is a cause of stress.  Recent correspondence dealt with reasons people give for going back to smoking: social situations, parties, alcohol consumption and stress.  This month I wish to amplify on stress.

In January of 1979, Chicago and vicinity was devastated by a major blizzard.  Heavy snows fell just after the New Year crippling the area.  Additional snowfall continued throughout the week.  During this time period I was barraged with phone calls from participants of the November, 1978 clinic claiming to be terribly nervous, upset and anxious from "not smoking."  Curiously, most of them were feeling well during the month of December.  They had occasional urges which lasted only seconds and were quite easy to overcome.  What they were experiencing in January was different.  Many felt that they were on the verge of cracking up.  To them life was "just no good" without their cigarettes.  Was the anxiety they were now experiencing really a side effect from giving up smoking?

To any outside observer the answer to the mysterious intensification of perceived withdrawal was obvious.  In fact, if our ex-smokers listened to radio or television or read the front page of any newspaper, they would have encountered a story on cabin fever.  By simply comparing their symptoms with those accompanying cabin fever they would understand what was happening.

Attributing the anxiety to smoking cessation was transference of blame.  In fact, they were having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation - confinement due to the blizzard.  They would have had the same anxiety whether or not they had given up cigarettes.

The above story illustrates an atypical time period in which numerous people experience similar complaints.  In everyday life inherent problems exist.  Work, family, friends, and money can all contribute to daily distress.  Ex-smokers often think that if they just take a cigarette during a stressful episode the situation will be solved.  For example, consider a person who finds he has a flat tire in a parking lot during a freezing rain.  When encountering this kind of misfortune, the ex-smoker's first reaction often is, "I need a cigarette."  What will actually solve this problem is changing the tire, and driving off in a warm car.  What would a cigarette do to help this situation?  It only makes the person see the flat tire longer and freeze more.  This adds up to greater frustration. The first puff will probably reinforce the addiction to cigarettes which is a much greater crisis than the flat tire ever was.  In fact, taking the first puff almost always results in a bigger problem than the crisis that "caused" them to take the puff.  Even in a real catastrophe, such as a death in the family, injuries, illnesses, flooding resulting in major property loss, bankruptcy and so on, a cigarette will not solve the problem.  It will just add another major problem to the originally bad situation.

Remember, smoking cannot solve problems of daily living.  No matter what the problem, there is a more effective way of solving it than smoking.   In fact, a smoker's health risks are a real problem that can only be solved if they - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

While most smokers actually believe that smoking was an effective stress treatment strategy (a drug that calmed them down), when it really comes down to it, smoking never truly calmed them down. All it did was administered nicotine alleviated nicotine withdrawal that was induced by stress. The illustration and text below covers this point.

The one true step that people are doing here to control their stress is getting rid of a product that should cause any thinking person a lot of worry and to stop the vicious cycle of drug feeding and drug withdrawal by always knowing now to never take another puff!

Joel

In the illustration above you can see on the left how a non-smokers reacts to stress. Without it they are happy and comfortable, when encountering stress they lose this comfort and depending on its severity they can get either mildly annoyed or really upset. The resolution of the stress will normally bring the non-smoker back to the original state of comfort, after a little time of cooling down of course.

Smokers are much more complex. Stress has an affect on all people--it makes the urine acidic. Both smokers and non-smokers experience this phenomena. In non-smoker smokers, the urine acidity has no real visible or perceivable effects--smokers are much more complicated. After the initial stress a smoker will feel like a non-smoker encountering stress, for a few seconds. But then the delineation occurs, the smoker's nicotine level depletes because of the urine acidity induced by the stress, and the smoker is kicked into a drug withdrawal state. The smoker has four ways to deal with the situation now.

First, the smoker can just smoke a cigarette. Well low and behold if the smoker does this he or she will feel "better." He or she will not feel good; he or she just won't be feeling withdrawal for the moment but still be feeling the initial stress. In essence, he or she will feel like a non-smoker under stress, not great, but not in withdrawal either.

The second way a smoker can handle the stress is to solve it and also smoke a cigarette. This results in one happy smoker. No stress now and no withdrawal, life is good at the moment. The feeling of bliss is basically the same feeling a non-smoker has who resolves his or her stress.

But then there are the other two scenarios. The smoker can solve the problem but not smoke. Here is the kicker here, the problem is resolved but the smoker is still in withdrawal, the nicotine level has dropped and problem resolution has no way to stop the nicotine depletion, only a cigarette can do that.

The worst of all situations is the smoker who cannot solve the problem and also cannot smoke a cigarette. This is a miserable situation to ever be in. You normally don't want to be around a smoker in this situation let alone being one yourself. Many smokers find themselves facing this dilemma daily since many jobs and social settings do not allow smoking yet constantly force the smoker to face stresses.

When you quit smoking these last four reactions to stress become a thing of the past. You still face stress, but you no longer have to face drug withdrawals induced by it. In essence you deal with stress in a totally different way when you don't have chronic drug withdrawals exaggerating it.

To stay in the position of being able to handle stresses with greater clarity and minimal discomfort always know that no matter what the stress, to avoid it having any long lasting and life threatening complications always remember to never take another puff!

Joel

Video version explaining the graphic here:

Video Title	Dial-Up	HS/BB	Audio	Length	Added
Why do smokers smoke?	2.65mb	5.70mb		18:08	11/07/06

How would you deal with

the following situations?

Your 2-year-old is having a temper tantrum because he wants a new toy. Would you;

1. Leave him alone until he calmed down
2. Give into his demands
3. Give him a tranquilizer

Your 7-year-old is anxious about next weeks' Little League tryouts. Would you;

1. Assure him that he can do it
2. Practice with him and tell him to try his best
3. Give him a valium every three hours until the game

Your 14-year-old is crushed when she is not asked to the sophomore dance. Would you;

1. Fix her up with one of your friend's children
2. Tell her to go anyway
3. Give her cocaine to pick up her spirits

Your 15-year-old is self-conscious about being 5 pounds overweight. Would you;

1. Cook lower calorie meals
2. Enroll her in a diet or exercise program
3. Put her on appetite suppressants

---

All of these young people are experiencing what adults would consider "growing pains."  A little time, patience and positive reassuring will help them overcome all of these difficult situations.

The fact is, as long as anyone continues to develop physically, emotionally, intellectually, professionally or spiritually, they too will experience growing pains.  Adults are prone to hurt, pain, sadness, depression and anxiety just as children are.  These feelings are all necessary if we wish to continue to develop our minds and bodies.  Without such growth, we would not experience happiness, satisfaction, contentment or purpose to their full extent.

The third choice in each of the above situations was, of course, ridiculous.  We would not subject our children to chemical hazards to overcome such trivial problems.  However, as adults we are fully capable of practicing such dangerous behaviors for our own relief.  Take cigarette smoking as an example.

When you were still a smoker, how many times would you say you had to smoke because you were lonely and sad without your friendly cigarettes?  How many times did you say that you had to smoke because of all the stress in your life?  How many times did you tell yourself that many social activities were just not fun without your cigarettes?  How many times did you say that you would gain too much weight if you quit smoking?  All you were saying was that you needed nicotine, a drug, to overcome everyday life problems.

It was not until you were off cigarettes that you realized you could overcome such problems without smoking, and in most cases more effectively than when you were a smoker.  Once you had quit you realized just how much a source of stress the habit was to you.  You were caught by a socially unacceptable and physically deadly addiction and were quite often aware of it.  This is when you had the desire to give them up, but thought the pain of quitting too great to even attempt it.

Even today, you probably still desire an occasional cigarette.  It may be in a stressful situation, at a party after a few drinks, or at a time when you find yourself alone with nothing better to do.  The fact is, there is nothing worse you can do than take a cigarette.  One cigarette will not help you over the problem.  In reality, it will create a new problem, a disastrous situation of a reinforced addiction, with all the physical dangers and associated dirty habits.

So, next time you have the desire for a cigarette, sit back and take a few moments to reflect upon what you are setting yourself up for.  Do you need that drug?  Do you want that addiction?  If not, simply remember - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

I often hear the comment that smoking is the "only" vice a person has left, like this somehow legitimizes smoking. "After all, I don't do this and I don't do that, all I do is smoke."

If any person fully understands what the ramifications of smoking are he or she will quickly realize the foolishness of such a statement.. The fact is that smoking is responsible for more deaths than probably all of the vices that people are referring to when making such comments combined.

Below is a chart from 1998 showing the risks of dying from smoking compared to the risk of dying from other common problems. Many of these problems are caused from behaviors that are considered by some to be vices. Again, look at the numbers. If smoking is your only vice understand something. Your ONLY vice is destroying your health and if not dealt with will likely cause your premature death. The solution to your problem is not finding other vices either, it is simply getting rid of this one deadly addiction by sticking to your commitment to never take another puff!

Joel

Death by Smoking

Although the below chart was compiled using 1998 United States data,
your nation's overall death category percentages may be fairly similar.