Paul McKenna on the Science of Smoking.
The Science of Smoking
When a smoker smokes a cigarette, the crude chemicals they inhale signal their brain to release endrophins, the body’s natral opiates. So, it’s no actually the cigarette that makes them feel good, but their body’s own internal response to that cigarette.
If you’ve ever coughed or hacked up phlegm while smoking, even if it was only in the early day, you alrady know that nicotine is a poison. The difficulty nearly every person had learning to inhale (along with nausea, light-headedness and in some extreme cases, vomiting) was an attempt by your body to prevent any more of the poison getting into your system.
However, the stress on your body brought on by the presence of nicotine also triggered a release of endorphines and endomorphines in order to ease the pain caused in fighting off the poison in the cigarette.
To ensure it has enough “natural painkillers” available for any future “attack” (ie cigarette), the body shuts down its natural cycle of endorphin releases, savin them up instead to combat the next infusion of poisonous chemicals.
When the anticipated endorphin release doesn’t come, the smoker experiences stress and craves the endorphin release they now associate with smoking another cigarette. But this craving was created by endorphin depletion caused by the previous cigarettes!
Some smokers find this difficult to believe, but much of the stress relieved by a cigarette was actually caused by smoking the one before. It’s a bit like being in a chemical S&M club – beating yourself up in order to feel better when you stop.
Bit by bit, smoking shuts down your body’s natural system for dealing with the real stresses of life, replacing it with an artificial and ultimately deadly substitute.
As you read the next few pages and do the exercises that follow, I will be teaching you how to take back your power to experience relief from stress without cigarettes and experience more natural pleasure. You will learn to be in charge of your internal response instead of their victim and slave. Mastering this ability allows you to have the best of both world – all the good feeling you used to associate with cigarettes, and the long-term health and wellbeing rewards of a healthy, smoke-free lifestyle.
