It occurred to me recently as I was thinking about vaping that using an e cigarette was the only truly successful means to stop smoking cigarettes as opposed to the patch, chantix, etc. was for a few reasons:
When we smoke, Nicotine mimics the compounds in our brains that are responsible for the release of endorphins / reward response in our brains/bodies. The Limbic system (among other parts of the brain) is responsible for ensuring our survival through tripping our "reward response" when we eat, have sex, fall in love, and other pleasant things. By nature we gravitate toward the things pleasing to us, and our brains associate our survival with the creation of a pleasure response from the aforementioned behaviors.
Nicotine sneaks it's way in to play a part in this reward/survival response by triggering the release of endorphins, and because we can readily enhance and repeat the reward response in ourselves whenever we introduce nicotine into our bodies, we create the addiction.
The reason we feel miserable and sketchy when we attempt to quit cigarettes is the brain's sudden staving off of this means to supply not only a reward response, but to continue a manifested means of a survivalmechanism that we have introduced to our brains. ( part of the reason some will turn to eating when quitting smoking)
Now I think that vaping has become the best means to stop smoking because it does not address only the biological part of it, but it also addresses the additional experience(s) associated with smoking, such as visual, auditory, and behavioral.
When we pair the creation of a reward/survival with the behaviors that so closely resemble smoking (Taking a drag, seeing vapor, tasting different flavors, holding a device in our hand) our minds are more ready to accept vaping as a replacement than putting a patch on our arm, or taking a pill and waiting.
There is also the aspect of creativity involved in vaping such as choosing or making a device, and personalizing it to suit our own preferences.
Essentially it is the replacement of a habit with in my opinion a better form of a habit, but a healthier one as well.
When we smoke, Nicotine mimics the compounds in our brains that are responsible for the release of endorphins / reward response in our brains/bodies. The Limbic system (among other parts of the brain) is responsible for ensuring our survival through tripping our "reward response" when we eat, have sex, fall in love, and other pleasant things. By nature we gravitate toward the things pleasing to us, and our brains associate our survival with the creation of a pleasure response from the aforementioned behaviors.
Nicotine sneaks it's way in to play a part in this reward/survival response by triggering the release of endorphins, and because we can readily enhance and repeat the reward response in ourselves whenever we introduce nicotine into our bodies, we create the addiction.
The reason we feel miserable and sketchy when we attempt to quit cigarettes is the brain's sudden staving off of this means to supply not only a reward response, but to continue a manifested means of a survivalmechanism that we have introduced to our brains. ( part of the reason some will turn to eating when quitting smoking)
Now I think that vaping has become the best means to stop smoking because it does not address only the biological part of it, but it also addresses the additional experience(s) associated with smoking, such as visual, auditory, and behavioral.
When we pair the creation of a reward/survival with the behaviors that so closely resemble smoking (Taking a drag, seeing vapor, tasting different flavors, holding a device in our hand) our minds are more ready to accept vaping as a replacement than putting a patch on our arm, or taking a pill and waiting.
There is also the aspect of creativity involved in vaping such as choosing or making a device, and personalizing it to suit our own preferences.
Essentially it is the replacement of a habit with in my opinion a better form of a habit, but a healthier one as well.
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