Drink, smoke and share laughter with friends.
For many smokers, going to the bar or pub and enjoying a few beers can be a lot of fun. However, if you are serious about quitting smoking, you should also consider giving up alcohol. Drinking is often viewed as the enemy of smoking cessation, and since the two often go hand in hand, giving up on one can increase your chances with the other.
Smoking alcohol and cigarettes: bad mix?
Think about it – going out for a drink with friends is usually a good time. Both alcohol and tobacco have an effect similar to dopamine: they make you feel comfortable at this time, which increases addictive behavior. When smokers are stressed, they often have a cigarette. Alcohol is also relaxing. And get together with friends to talk complain What challenges us are the bees’ knees.
It is a pattern of behavior that can become cyclical, with each behavior reinforcing the other. By disrupting multiple behaviors (i.e., not just quitting cigarettes, but also quitting alcohol), you can help reduce the hurdles on your path to success (while saving your liver at the same time).
Effects of tobacco and alcohol on the body
Effects of tobacco on the body
What’s in a cigarette Each cigarette contains around 600 ingredients that, when burned, produce over 7,000 different chemical substances – including: acetone (contained in nail polish remover), acetic acid (an ingredient in hair dye), ammonia (a common household cleaner), arsenic (a toxin in rat poison), benzene (found in rubber cement), butane (used in lighter liquids), cadmium (active component in battery acid), formaldehyde (embalming fluid), lead (used in batteries), naphthalene (a component in mothballs), methanol (a major component of rocket fuel) and Tolune (used in paint) – not to mention carbon monoxide (released in car exhaust), nicotine (used as an insecticide), and tar (material for pavement).
If you think these tobacco ingredients sound toxic, you are absolutely right. Due to these chemicals, the bronchus and lungs are exposed to severe stress as they are in direct contact with the smoke. Over time, the alveoli in the lungs are destroyed, the bronchi become inflamed, and the circulatory system is damaged. Carbon monoxide is linked to hemoglobin in the body and impairs oxygen uptake. It is said that this leads to chronic oxygen starvation that causes symptoms like shortness of breath and coughing or sputum, which eventually leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and can also lead to heart disease. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
E-cigarettes aren’t necessarily better. In 2016, the FDA mandated that e-cigarette manufacturers register with the FDA. After that, manufacturers have until 2018 to submit an application to remain on the market. Until then, the nearly 500 brands and 7,700 e-cigarette flavors (e-liquids and vape juices) will remain on the market. Until the FDA evaluation is complete, it is difficult for anyone other than manufacturers to know exactly what chemicals are in e-liquids or how e-cigarette use can affect health in the short or long term.
Effects of alcohol on the body
After alcohol is ingested, it is absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and transported to the liver because the body regards alcohol as a poison. Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde in the liver and eventually into carbon dioxide gas or moisture, which is released outside the body. If a person continues to drink alcohol, the body does not have time to break down and drain alcohol. As a result, acetaldehyde begins to build up in the body. Over time, alcohol causes liver diseases such as fatty liver / cirrhosis and can damage the brain and other organs.
Reason Why You Want To Smoke When You Drink
When people who enjoy smoking and drinking finally try to give up cigarettes, it takes several hours to several days for the brain to adjust to a lower nicotine state. The pleasure that nicotine brings, of course, also decreases. Even after that, the brain seems to have a tendency to increase the amount of alcohol to make up the difference as it looks for behavior that leads to pleasure.
Tobacco contains various toxic substances, including nicotine: a substance that is particularly addicting. Nicotine acts on nicotine receptors in the brain and releases dopamine, a pleasure substance. This is the main cause of craving for cigarettes and the thought “I want to smoke”, but nicotine also serves to increase the craving for alcohol.
Alcohol also has the effect of promoting the release of dopamine, and the brain goes into a comfortable state every time. Both nicotine and alcohol have pleasant effects together. So, knowing both joys, instinctively ask about the other when you lack one. There are people who say that when you drink alcohol, smoking just tastes better, but the real reason is supposed to be that the brain is looking for tobacco to further increase its enjoyment of drinking alcohol.
Last word
Smoking cessation may seem easy on the surface, but when we take a closer look at the addiction we find that it is a related behavior and that we need to change many different habits in order to quit smoking successfully. The reason is that mind and body reaction and stress are the reasons, and there are also some people who encounter alcohol because of their loneliness. However, when you are in an alcohol environment, there is always a temptation to reach for a cigarette. When you quit smoking, leaving behind alcohol may be better in the long run.
