Within the last decade, scientific research has confirmed what the world has speculated for hundreds of years. This being that smoking nicotine can be extremely detrimental to your health. As we all know, smoking has been pinpointed as the cause of a number of health conditions such as lung disease and a long list of different cancers.
As we no longer live in speculation of the harmful effects of smoking, many smokers around the world have decided to quit in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle. Though quitting is highly recommended by health specialists, there is no denying that it is not an easy process. Many people forget just how addictive nicotine is and when your body is deprived of its addiction, it reacts in an unfortunate way.
Now, we have no intention of scaring you away from tackling the task of quitting as it is essential for your health, but it is important to know that quitting comes with highs and lows that you need to be aware of. Here are the highs and lows of quitting smoking completely.
High- Money Saving
Aside from all of the obvious health benefits associated with no longer smoking, quitting also comes with its economic advantages. Smoking is a very expensive habit, especially if you are someone who smokes excessively. With new government legislation passing every day, smoking only looks as though it will only continue to become more expensive. Every year the price of a pack of cigarettes increases in price, so by quitting you will be able to avoid the excessive waste of money.
If you think back to how many packs of cigarettes you have bought over the years as a smoker, you would dread to realize just how much money you have wasted. A positive to having some extra money on your hands is being able to invest it in something worthwhile. A common practice among people that are in the process of quitting is to put the money that you would spend on cigarettes in a jar. Once you have been cigarette-free for a couple of months, you can break into the jar that you have put aside and buy yourself a reward of some sort.
Low- Potential Weight Gain
Though this is not an effect that everyone experiences after quitting smoking, gaining weight are very common among people who are attempting to quit. This happens because cigarettes are extremely addictive, which means when you deprive yourself of them your body begins to crave a substitution of some sort.
For a lot of people, the most accessible substitute for smoking is eating. Preoccupying the mouth with a different task alleviates the desire to smoke. However, when you are battling the sensations of addiction, then you may find that you are eating an excessive amount- even when you are not hungry. Much like smoking, overeating is not great for your health, so if you start to experience it you should try to control your cravings as much as possible.
The need to overeat should subside over time and will disappear completely once your body has gotten rid of any addictive feelings, so please do not allow this side effect to stop you from trying to quit.
Highs- A Healthier Body
The biggest reason that people choose to quit smoking is because of the health benefits that come with it. Smoking has detrimental effects on the body and can damage every organ in one way or another. Unfortunately, if you have been smoking for a long time, then you have done some sort of irreversible damage to your body.
Something that smokers commonly have to deal with is shortness of breath, which can make doing your daily tasks extremely inconvenient. Though quitting will not reverse years of damage, it will lessen the feelings of breathlessness. Quitting will also ensure that you do not cause further damage to your body and as a result of this, you will live a much better quality of life.
Just weeks after quitting, your body will start to relieve itself of any pressures on the chest and any built-up mucus that often occurs due to smoking. Smoking can also shorten a person’s life span tremendously, so quitting will mean that you have more time to enjoy life with your family and friends.
Low- Mood Swings
We have all been warned of the possible side effects of addiction when it comes to quitting drugs. From cold shakes to terrible moods, the process is not a nice one. What a lot of people do not realize is that quitting cigarettes is exactly like quitting drugs, so you are bound to feel the nasty side effects.
Addiction is caused by chemicals in the brain and so if you are not able to get your fix of nicotine, your brain will not react well. When smoking you should expect to experience bouts of anger.
High- You don’t have to give up nicotine
Quitting these days is not like it was once. Instead of going cold turkey, you can use methods that will make the process of quitting much easier. These days people tend to use vapes when they are trying to quit cigarettes. You can actually choose the amount of nicotine in a disposable vape that you use, so you can still get enough nicotine without all of the horrible side effects that come with smoking cigarettes.