8. You are Quitting Two Habits...
Nicotine Addiction and Habit
Most heavy smokers assume that they smoke so much because they are addicted to nicotine. They say that they need to smoke every half an hour or even sooner to satisfy the nicotine cravings. However, the truth is that a large proportion of cigarettes they smoke are out of their ‘psychological addiction’
or ‘habit’ to smoke rather than ‘physiological addiction’ or ‘chemical addiction’ to nicotine.
Addiction to Nicotine is not merely a physiological addiction. It is a psychological addiction or a habit more than an addiction. Over time, smoking takes the form of a learned unconscious reflex: a habit, done without any thought, many times a day, every day. It is then, the delineation between addiction and habit blurs.
Habit and addiction are two different things. These two can be separated this way; the addiction is to the nicotine and the rest is all habit.
If you are a heavy smoker and seriously addicted to nicotine, you just need four fully smoked cigarettes a day to satisfy your nicotine urges and most of your nicotine addiction. Still, smokers who smoke around 25 cigarettes a day assume that every cigarette they smoke is out of chemical addiction to nicotine.
This is just not so. Nicotine is certainly an addictive substance but most cigarettes that heavy smokers smoke are because of their habit to smoke and have a behavioral element associated with them.
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