How Nicotine Addiction Works
Nicotine addiction is more than a habit. Learn the science behind nicotine addiction and how to beat it.
How does nicotine addiction work and why is nicotine so hard to quit?
Every time you smoke, vape, use nicotine pouches, dip, or chew tobacco, nicotine goes to your brain. There, it connects with nicotine receptors. Receptors are parts of brain cells that “catch” chemicals so other parts of brain cells can respond.
When the nicotine receptors get nicotine, a feel-good chemical called dopamine is released in your brain. You might know this feeling as the “hit” or “buzz.” The dopamine release is why using nicotine feels so good. The dopamine works as a reward to your brain for using nicotine.
Because of the way nicotine works in the body, the good feelings from the dopamine only last for a short time. Then withdrawal sets in because the nicotine receptors are craving nicotine again.
Factors that affect nicotine withdrawal symptoms
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms can be worse for people with more severe nicotine addiction, who have been addicted to nicotine longer and for people who use a lot of nicotine. Genetics can also play a role in nicotine addiction and withdrawal.
Common nicotine withdrawal symptoms
- Feeling anxious
- Feeling depressed or a bad mood
- Feeling irritable, angry, or frustrated
- Difficulty concentrating
- Restlessness or feeling jumpy
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Changes in eating patterns
- Nicotine cravings
The nicotine withdrawal cycle
When you use nicotine again, your withdrawal symptoms go away and you may feel better for a time.
This cycle helps explain why people who use nicotine feel like it reduces their other health symptoms. For example, because withdrawal may make you feel anxious, it can feel like vaping makes your anxiety better.
However, nicotine doesn’t help with the anxiety itself. Nicotine makes the withdrawal symptoms go away. It makes the nicotine receptors in your brain quiet down until the nicotine wears off again. Then the cycle continues, and you feel anxious again because you’re experiencing anxiety as a withdrawal symptom.
Nicotine tolerance
Over time, it can take more and more nicotine to create the same good feeling and deal with withdrawal symptoms. This is called “tolerance”.
In the long term, smoking and vaping often no longer feel as good as they used to. At a certain point, you might be using nicotine just to get rid of withdrawal symptoms and feel normal.
Why do nicotine cravings happen?
Over time, your brain learns to connect the dopamine rush and good feelings that come from using nicotine with the thoughts, sensation, feelings, situations, and places where you smoke/vape/use tobacco.
Once your brain learns to connect situations to the rewarding effects of nicotine, it makes you crave nicotine just by feeling a certain way or being in a certain place. These are called “triggers”.
These kinds of connections can be made by your brain without you realizing. Understanding how thoughts, feelings, situations, and places are connected to your nicotine use is an important step in learning how to beat nicotine addiction.
Common things that trigger nicotine cravings
Feelings, situations, and places where you use nicotine
Over time, your brain learns to connect the dopamine rush and good feelings that come from using nicotine with feelings, situations, and places where you smoke/vape/use tobacco, like:
- Feeling stressed, angry, bored, or sad
- After eating a meal
- Drinking coffee or alcohol
- Driving
- Being around other people smoking or vaping
Thought patterns
Thoughts can also make you crave nicotine. You might find yourself minimizing the consequences of smoking or vaping. You might think about the worst possible outcome, even if it’s unlikely. You might also think in all-or-nothing terms. These thoughts could sound like:
- “Just one cigarette won’t hurt, it’s been weeks since I’ve smoked.”
- “Everything else is falling apart, I might as well vape.”
- “It doesn’t matter if I finish this can of pouches, because I already messed up anyway.”
Sensations
The dopamine rush from using nicotine can also become linked with the sensation of using the product itself. For example:
- The feeling of smoke in your throat
- The taste of a vape or cigarette
- The sensation of a nicotine pouch or dip plug in your lip
Avoiding withdrawal symptoms
Your brain learns to avoid nicotine withdrawal. Your brain doesn’t want to experience withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, stress, and low mood. So it craves a cigarette, vape or other hit of nicotine.
What works to help quit nicotine?
A combination of three things is proven to be effective to help people quit nicotine:
1. Support from others
Having at least some support from others as you quit has lots of benefits. It can help you feel less lonely and provide reassurance during difficult times. It can motivate you to stay quit or try again after a relapse. And connecting with other people who are also quitting can help you learn what worked for them.
With EX Program, you get support from the EX Community and from text messages. The EX Community is the longest-running online support community for people quitting. Research shows that using the EX Community makes it more likely that you will quit.
You can also sign up for EX Program’s text messages with advice from experts and quitters in all phases of their quit journey. Many people find the texts to be the most helpful part of EX Program!
2. New skills
Your brain has made connections between nicotine and moods, situations, and places. Finding new ways to deal with triggers and cravings is an important part of quitting nicotine. These might include:
- Learning new ways to manage stress
- Changing parts of your daily routine where you often smoke or vape
- Trying new ways to keep your mouth and hands busy
EX Program helps you identify triggers, cope with cravings, and replace old routines with new, healthier ones. It may not be easy, but we have the advice of experts and experienced quitters to guide you.
3. Medication
Medication can help you manage the changes nicotine addiction causes in your brain while you quit. It can make cravings and withdrawal symptoms less intense. Many people find medication makes the quitting journey more comfortable.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication options include:
- Non-nicotine prescription medications like varenicline and bupropion.
- Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), like nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges. Nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges are available over the counter to adults 18+.
EX Program can help you explore your medication options. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions before taking any medications.
How do nicotine gum, lozenges or patches help you quit nicotine?
Nicotine gum, lozenges or patches are all kinds of nicotine replacement therapy. They make nicotine withdrawal symptoms less intense. They give you a relatively slow and small dose of nicotine. It’s enough to reduce the intensity of the craving without flooding your brain with nicotine.
Nicotine replacement therapy is different from smoking, vaping, nicotine pouches, and other tobacco products
Cigarettes, vapes, and smokeless tobacco give you a lot of nicotine very quickly. This is partly why those products are so addictive. Since nicotine gum, lozenges or patches give you a slower dose of a smaller amount of nicotine, they are designed to be much less addictive.
They are also designed to help you taper off nicotine completely.
Are nicotine gum, patches, and lozenges safe?
Yes, decades of research shows that nicotine gum, patches, and lozenges are safe. Using these FDA-approved products as directed is safe and effective, even for long-term use. NRT doesn’t contain any of the dangerous ingredients of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or other tobacco products.
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