: Does smoking really helps to relax?
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Smokers change their breathing pattern from regular daily breathing by extending their exhale. An extended exhale activates the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system which is responsible for our ‘rest and digest’ state.
The smoking itself isn’t relaxing but the breathing pattern that goes with it is.
no there is no evidence that smoking relaxes anyone at all.
in fact there have been studies about that exact claimed benefit of smoking but they found no difference that could be attributed to the smoking itself.
The current theory is that smokers feel relaxed when smoking because their nicotine withdrawal symptoms are taken care of by the new inrush of fresh nicotine.
I think for some it’s the hypoxia. But what I’ve been told is not initially. Like you need to be smoking for at least a few months before it has that effect. Maybe it’s the addiction withdrawal thing.
I find for some if you smoke too much you get anxiety, for people with adhd it acts as a stimulant and that can be calming for those that have adhd
any kind of self soothing behavior can be made to help someone relax.
if you do 10 pushups every time you get home from work, or end a stressful phone call, or walk outside the door……..pushups will become a calming activity
It’s regulating. I’m working, very concentrated on a hard problem and suddenly my craving is making itself known. So I go outside, look at the sky and stroke my cat (if available) while having a smoke.
This Youtuber I think also has some interesting thoughts, if you can stomach his unhinged delivery [https://youtu.be/rfh96cS86CE](https://youtu.be/rfh96cS86CE)
All of this is of course not a good idea, I’d rather not be smoking and try to relax another way. If you read this and are thinking “might smoking be a good way for me, to include little moments of relaxation into my day”, DON’T!
No.
Nicotine is among the most addicting substances known, you’re pretty much hooked from the first inhalation. But it also has a relative low effect time, so your body wants more pretty soon. This creates anxiety that you usually attribute to other factors like work stress. Smoking again alleviates the anxiety from the nicotine withdrawal and you interpret that as “Smoking = Relaxing”.
More details can be found in this “kurz gesagt” Video: [Smoking is Awesome – YouTube](https://youtu.be/_rBPwu2uS-w)
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