Can boredom lead to smoking?

[clear_blue27]

I don't know where to put this. If it's in the wrong category I apologize.

Could boredom lead to smoking?

[Moonflame]

Only if you're bored enough to light yourself on fire .

Actually, I worked somewhere where there was lots of downtime between sections of time where we were really busy. People who didn't smoke when they started working there ended up smokers before they left. It was something to do to pass the time. I know a lot of military guys who started the same way, lots of time standing around with nothing to do but try to stay awake. I think it only happens though if you're bored and around a smoker, eventually you try a cig just for something to do.

[Richie G]

I don't know where to put this. If it's in the wrong category I apologize.

Could boredom lead to smoking?

Abso-freakin'-lutely! Waiting and smoking go hand in hand on this end.

An aside -- I found myself smoking when I COULD smoke, not so much when I wanted to. Dig? Vaping has changed that. I vape when I get the urge, wherever I am -- even stealthily on a NYC subway train. Yet, I still vape less than I smoked...

[Linthorn]

I agree. I find that I smoke (smoked) far more when bored. I periodiacally take business trips that involve long drives and nights in hotel rooms. I easily smoked twice my normal rate there. Boredom is a major contributor to smoking.

[Linthorn]

An aside -- I found myself smoking when I COULD smoke, not so much when I wanted to. Dig? Vaping has changed that. I vape when I get the urge, wherever I am -- even stealthily on a NYC subway train. Yet, I still vape less than I smoked...

I noticed years ago, when smoking in buildings was outlawed, that I would light up whenever I left a building. Even if I was in it briefly.

Of course, I think I vape more than I smoked, but I enjoy it more!!

[chrisl317]

I don't know where to put this. If it's in the wrong category I apologize.

Could boredom lead to smoking?

Certainly, boredom can also lead to excessive drinking.

I smoked for 30+ years and was a drunk for 14. Been sober 18 1/2 years and as far as smoking - see the sig!

[JKG]

I would agree too. I've always said that the reason I didn't quit smoking was because it was something to do if there was nothing to do. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but that's how I felt.

[lordmage]

i think the real question should be. can smoking lead to boredom? why yes,yes it can. :P

[Snarkyone]

No doubt in my mind that it leads to smoking. A few years back I had started divorce proceeding against my exwife and I had just recently had a spine fusion surgery and was off work recuperating and had quit smoking tobacco with the help of nicotrol inhalers and I was really jazzed and staying with it. Then it came time to drive across the country to return home to Michigan while fighting for both my soc sec benefits, custody of my child, and the divorce. Not a recommended move, I was back on tobacco before I even got out of Idaho!

[TropicalBob]

Absolutely. Smoking is a two-headed, seemingly contradictory beast. It relaxes and it stimulates. Seems impossible, but that's what smoking does via manipulation of the brain to produce or increase chemicals associated with those conditions.

A bored person smokes for stimulation. An agitated person smokes for relaxation. Each achieves the desired result.

Either condition can increase smoking, or pull an ex-smoker back to cigarettes.

I eagerly await tests that show what inhaling our e-liquid nicotine cocktail does to our brains. I don't know, to tell you the truth. Something IS missing, however. E-smoking is not smoking. Something essential is missing, revealed in how we feel after e-smoking for awhile.

My hunch is that our e-liquid does not both stimulate and relax the way smoking does. (I'd love to see brain scans after smoking and after vaping!) Find the chemical in tobacco smoke that does that trick, put it in e-liquid, and we can all settle back for some stimulation when bored, relaxation when excited.