What You Need to Know About Smoking and Your Brain?

1. What You Need to Know About Smoking and Your Brain? Everyone knows about the effects of smoking on the heart and lungs and how it might lead to stroke, heart disease, cancer, and many other serious health conditions. However, not many of us are aware of the effect smoking has on our brains. What exactly happens in your brain when you smoke?

2. Your brain has neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, which send signals from your brain to the other parts of your body. When you smoke, nicotine acts like a neurotransmitter because both are similar in shape. Nicotine also creates a pleasurable sensation by activating dopamine signals. Over time, our brain starts reducing the number of acetylcholine receptors produced to compensate for the nicotine. This builds nicotine tolerance, and you need more and more nicotine to continue. Slowly, you begin increasing the number of cigarettes. Dopamine is responsible for pleasurable feelings; nicotine mimics dopamine, and your brain starts associating smoking with feeling good. Nicotine changes your brain, and your brain starts depending on nicotine. This is why when you try quitting, you have withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, irritability, and intense craving for nicotine. Unfortunately, most people go back to smoking because of these withdrawal symptoms. Here is a list of some of the most common effects of nicotine on our brain: Cognitive decline: this naturally happens to older people. Cognitive decline is a condition when you cannot think faster than you did when you were younger; in fact, you become more forgetful. Smokers might reach this condition more quickly than non-smokers. Increased risk of dementia: dementia is a condition that affects memory, thinking abilities, language skills, judgement, and behaviour. It also causes personality changes. Research shows that people who smoke are at a greater risk of suffering from dementia than non-smokers. Loss of brain volume: smoking affects age-related brain volume issues. It has been found that smoking affects the integral volume of the brain. How to deal with withdrawal symptoms? Nicotine replacement therapy: you can always use nicotine gum and nicotine patches to fight withdrawal symptoms. A nicotine patch such as the Nicotex nicotine patch or the Cipla Nicotex patch can help you battle a sudden urge to smoke. Gradually lowering the usage of the Nicotex patch can help you to quit smoking completely.

3. Talk to a doctor: a doctor can always help when you are fighting withdrawal symptoms and prescribe you certain medications that can help you fight the withdrawal symptoms. Surround yourself with positive people: quitting smoking is not easy; when you have finally planned to quit smoking, make sure to surround yourself with positive people who can motivate you on your journey. You can call them and speak to them when you want to curb a sudden urge to consume nicotine. Quitting smoking is easier said than done. Many people often go back to their smoking habits in the first month itself. However, if you have firmly decided to quit smoking, then you can surely achieve your goal. You need to prepare yourself mentally and resolve to emerge as a healthier person. Source - Tumblr