why is smoking addictive?

Question

why do everyone who tries smoking, gets hooked and ''loves'' it? when i've had a go when i was young, but find it disgusting and still do? Its the same with alcohol/etc, I cannot understand how ppl can get ''hooked'' on them.

Answer 1

nicotine

Answer 2

Yea but the nicotine in cigeretes act as a stimulant to the neurotransmitters in the brain which cause a pleasure sensation. Of course smoking once wont immediately cause an addiction but of course if you keep smoking (ie. through peer pressure etc) then your brain gets used to this stimulant and adapts to cope with the extra activity in the neurotransmitter involved. So when people try to give up smoking, the activity in the neurotransmitters decreases causing the moodiness etc. The cravings are because the body is lacking these stimulants and so sends out 'want' signals like when you are hungry/thirsty

Answer 3

Faster than an injection, more reinforcing than crack cocaine: Smoking a cigarette speeds nicotine to the brain faster than any other delivery method, giving smokers precise control over their exact nicotine dose with each puff they take. It turns out that those two attributes--speed and control--greatly enhance nicotine's addictive effect on the brain. "It's not just the drug, but how you take it". "Cigarette smoking introduces nicotine to the pulmonary beds of the lungs, which means it gets to the brain in seconds, without achieving general venous circulation."


Nicotine mimics the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, binding to and activating a subset of receptors (the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors). Nicotine affects the brain in much the same way as cocaine, opiates, and amphetamines do; it is hard to say which drugs are more addictive. Animals can be trained to self-administer nicotine, just as they do other drugs; yet even though nicotine can be fatal, animals will not dose themselves to death, as they will with cocaine.


But once hooked, people cling to their cigarettes: Researchers have asked those with multiple addictions which drug is hardest to give up; nicotine is often the answer. "They all activate key brain regions that seem to be involved in addiction."

Answer 4

In a persons brain there are receptors that certain naturally occuring items activate and stimulate the production of certain neurotransmitters that stimulate our pleasure centers.. Among these are nicotine, cocaine, alcohol, etc. When we start suppling these items on a regular basis we stimulate these receptors and a process called up regulation occurs (making more receptors) and we utilize that substance more to satisfy them. When we try to curb our consumption of the substance these receptors are not satisfied and we desire the substance. If we continue not utilizing the substance pruning or down regulation occurs. I have included a web site for further information.

Answer 5

Nicotine is a very addictive substance. More so than heroine. Of course once a person is addicted, they do love it.
Alcohol is addictive to some people. persons who have a family history of alcoholism need to be very careful that it does not happen to them.

Answer 6

Nicotine is really nasty. There are receptors in the brain that respond to nicotine and they generate the "feel good" factor.

The most insidious thing about nicotine is that it actually causes the brain to generate more receptors as more nicotine is put into the system. The result is that you become more and more addicted, the more you smoke.

Nicotine is reputed to be more addictive than Heroin!

Answer 7

Because there is a drug in cigarettes called nicotine, and the companies that make cigarettes have manipulated nicotine levels to make them even more addictive. Myself, I tried smoking as well and it didn't addict me. I'm sure there are more like us, just not enough to make a dent in sales, perhaps.

Answer 8

It's partly to do with the psyche of the people who take the drugs, the drug themselves ie stuff added to make them addictive and society ( with its direct and indirect marketing of these products)
Think about it. Watch TV, especially soaps. Listen to people in offices on their breaks. Walk through any town or village centre. The answer lays there.

Answer 9

nicotine is the main reason. However it becomes part of their life and habbits. The first thing a smoker will do in the morning is usually a coffee and cig and that habbit can be difficult as well as the nicotine to break.

Answer 10

everyones different buddy.
nicotine causes addiction in cigarettes.
alcohol isnt neccessarily addictive, people enjoy drinking it, and it makes them feel good sometimes... some people cant control the urge to get a little tipsy though and they end up being alcoholics.

Answer 11

Nicotine is a drug that affects blood and brain chemistry. It is this effect that makes it addictive.