Most smokers are fully aware of the harm of tobacco smoking to their health, but they are just unable to succeed in quitting smoking even if they are strongly willing to do that.
The reason why it is so hard for smokers to give up smoking is due to their addiction to nicotine, a stimulant substance present in tobacco.
There are a variety of less harmful alternatives to traditional cigarettes emerging to meet smokers’s need for a safer delivery of nicotine.
Also, there are smoking cessation products available, which are designed to help smokers relieve their nicotine cravings and gradually quit smoking.
Today, we’re going to discuss some options available to help smokers quit or reduce nicotine intake or consume nicotine in a less risky way.
But before we start our topic, it is necessary for us to know a little bit about nicotine.
How does nicotine get people addicted?
Nicotine is a stimulant compound present in the nightshade family of plants, predominantly tobacco plants. It is highly addictive and keeps smokers craving to smoke.
So, how does nicotine get people addicted? Let’s have a look at its working mechanism.
When one lights up a tobacco cigarette, tobacco smoke is released. The tobacco smoke contains nicotine, along with numerous toxicants, which are inhaled into his or her lung, and the nicotine is then delivered in seconds to the reward center of the brain and activates the cells out there.
The nicotine attaches to brain cell receptors, also known as nicotine receptors, which trigger a big amount of dopamine release. Dopamine is a type of monoamine neurotransmitter, most notably involved in making us feel good as part of the brain’s reward system.
A proper amount of dopamine does good to us. For example, it can keep us motivated, concentrated and bring us pleasure. But having too much dopamine can affect many parts of our behavior and physical functions, among which nicotine addiction is one typical example.
As nicotine leads to the surge of dopamine in smokers’ brains, which satisfies their natural reward systems in a big way.
Repeated nicotine consumption further raises the threshold for this kind of pleasure, which means they need to consume more and more nicotine to get the same pleasure.
At the same time, nicotine also makes smokers’ bodies less able to release dopamine in a natural way.
Therefore, when smokers try to quit smoking, there is no nicotine attaching to the brain cell receptors, causing a limited release of dopamine.
As smokers have been used to a high volume of dopamine release, they feel uncomfortable and bad both physically and mentally when stopping smoking, which are generally known as withdrawal symptoms.
What happens if one tries to quit smoking?
Quitting smoking suggests smokers getting used to not having nicotine and fight with withdrawal symptoms.
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms come in various ways, which include but not limited to having breakthrough cravings to smoking, feeling restless and anxious, feeling irritated, upset or depressed, lack of concentration, having trouble in sleeping, hunger pangs and so on.
For most smokers, it is quite a tough thing to get through withdrawal symptoms, especially their cravings for nicotine, which can be overwhelming.
Hence, it is normal that smokers may even need many tries to succeed in getting rid of smoking.
This is the nature of smokers’ addiction to nicotine and also the reason why most of them can’t quit tobacco smoking easily. In most cases, they tend to go back to smoking if there is no further assistance.
What should be responsible for tobacco-related disease?
While nicotine is highly addictive, it is not regarded as the major cause of tobacco-related diseases, such as cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as cardiovascular diseases, like stroke, hypertension, heart attack, peripheral artery disease, etc.
It is the tobacco smoke that is responsible for the morbidity and mortality associated with smoking.
Tobacco smoke is produced when a tobacco cigarette is burnt to an extremely high temperature of around 900°C. It is inhaled by a smoker, and also by people surrounding him or her, who are generally called second-hand smokers.
Tobacco smoke contains numerous hazardous properties, including ash, tar, carbon monoxide, irritants formaldehyde and acrolein, and arsenic, mercury, cadmium, nickel, lead, ammonia, arsenic and more. These poisonous components are what cause tobacco-related diseases.
According to the studies, there are more than 250 known toxic compounds in tobacco smoke and at least 70 substances are found to be carcinogenic.
As people are increasingly health-minded, many smokers try to kick off smoking or look to suitable tobacco substitutes for the sake of their health.
Opt for smoking cessation choices or tobacco alternatives
There are a wide range of products coming onto the market to help smokers with their smoking cessation or to provide them with less harmful ways of nicotine consumption.
One medically approved way to help smokers to quit or cut down on smoking is called nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
Nicotine replacement therapy works by giving smokers a low and steady dose of nicotine through other means rather than tobacco cigarettes.
The nicotine replacement therapy varies in types, including patch, gum, lozenge, inhaler and nasal spray, among which can be purchased over the counter, while the inhaler and nasal spray are available on prescription.
As the NRT products contain much lower level of nicotine than tobacco cigarettes, and don’t contain any toxic chemicals that are present in tobacco smoke, they are considered to be less addictive and far less harmful than smoking.
It is said that NRT products, when combined with a prescription medicine can be more effective in helping smoking cessation.
In addition to medical assistance, there are also a variety of substitutes for tobacco cigarettes on the market, including e-cigarettes, oral nicotines, heated tobacco, tea-based heated alternatives and more.
These cigarette substitutes share one thing in common, which is they do not generate tobacco smoke when being consumed.
As mentioned above, nearly all the toxic substances are attributed to tobacco smoke, which is produced during the combustion of a tobacco cigarette and is the leading cause of tobacco-related diseases.
For those who don’t favor medications to help with cigarette quitting or want to seek less harmful alternatives to tobacco cigarettes, these smoke-free products can be their options to keep them away from adverse health effects such as seen with tobacco cigarettes.
For instance, one of the innovations in the industry, tea-based heated alternative, has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in European areas.
Instead of using actual tobacco leaves, tea-based heated alternatives use tea leaves as its main raw materials, which can be blended with natural herbs, flavorings and nicotine ( or without nicotine).
The tea-based heated alternative works by using an electronic device to heat the raw materials to a relatively low temperature of around 350°C to produce an aerosol that users breathe.
As the tea-based heated alternative does not involve combustion when it is consumed, there is no release of toxicants associated with tobacco cigarettes.
NEAFS is one of the leading tea-based heated alternative brands based in Europe.
The brand provides both nicotine and nicotine-free lines to meet everyone’s needs. The main ingredients of Neafs come with tea leaves, flavorings, vegetable glycerine, propylene glycol and nicotine in 1.5% nicotine or totally nicotine-free.
In terms of taste, the flavorings come in burberry, menthol, coffee, strawberry, and mojito, which are suitable for those who want to try out something refreshing and aromatic.
In summary
Since tobacco cigarettes pose a potential threat to human’s health, it is necessary for smokers to move to tobacco cigarette alternatives as the first step towards a smoke-free future.
For example, if you simply want to quit smoking, NTR products may be your better options. But if you insist on nicotine intake but want to consume it in a less harmful way, you might choose other smoke-free products like e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn products, tea-based heated alternatives and the like.
In all, there are various tobacco cigarettes alternatives out there, be it with nicotine or without nicotine. To choose which option depends on your needs.
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