A smart guide to understanding tobacco dependence

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in Canada, yet over six million Canadians seem helplessly addicted to tobacco. You can up your odds of beating this life-threatening habit by combining several proven therapies.

You know you want to quit smoking and you also know why: it’s ever clearer that smoking will take a terrible toll on your health (if it hasn't already) — not to mention your pocketbook, your looks and your social life. Then how come you're having so much trouble quitting?

• Studies show it time and again: nicotine ranks as the world’s most addictive drug, ahead of both cocaine and heroin.
• When you inhale tobacco smoke, the drug is absorbed immediately through your lungs into your bloodstream. If you use a cigar, pipe or smokeless tobacco (in the form of chewing tobacco or snuff), it’s absorbed through the mucous membranes of your mouth.
• Once it’s in your bloodstream, after two or three pumps of your heart, you've got the most addictive drug on the planet in your brain.
• There it boosts key brain chemicals such as epinephrine, serotonin and dopamine, making you feel more energetic, amazingly clearheaded, even euphoric.
• As with all addictive substances, however, you'll need more and more nicotine to produce these same positive reactions.
• Go too long without your next "hit" and you enter withdrawal, becoming moody, lethargic and confused.

This drug dependence comes at a high price.

• Smoke and tar from tobacco contain more than 4,000 chemicals (including cyanide, benzene and form­al­dehyde), many of which are definitely linked to cancer.
• Tobacco also increases your risk for other diseases, including heart attack and stroke, early menopause, osteoporosis, chronic respiratory ailments and impotence, to name just a few.
• If that isn't enough to make you quit, keep the following fact in mind: smoking is linked to a staggering one in five deaths in Canada. It is estimated that over 45,000 Canadians will die this year from smoking-related diseases.
• Amazingly, when you do quit, your health will improve virtually within hours of your last cigarette.
• Moreover, the longer you abstain, the greater your chances of never smoking again.
• Though 60 to 90 percent of smokers will relapse during their first year of tobacco-free living, only 15 percent do so during their second year, and a scant two to four percent after two years.

• Adopt a gradual withdrawal plan rather than going cold turkey.
• Curb cravings by eating better and exercising.
• Try a nicotine replacement product to ease withdrawal.
• Join a support group and get counselling to increase your chances of success.

• Do it for your kids. Children of smokers are 50 percent more likely to suffer asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia than those of non-smokers. Put your kids at the top of your list of reasons to stop.
• Double your pleasure. Every day you don't smoke, set aside the money you would have spent on cigarettes. At the price they are today, it can add up quickly.
• Get a scan. In addition to the cholesterol screening and blood pressure tests you get at your regular checkup, ask your doctor to do an ultrasound of your arteries. Smokers who viewed images of their own plaque-­clogged arteries were found to be four times more likely to quit.

• The Canadian Lung Association has comprehensive information dedicated to helping you quit, including links to support groups (1-800-972-2636 or www.lung.ca).

Quitting tobacco is not easy, but it is possible. Keep this guide in mind and you can drastically improve your health by eliminating your tobacco dependency.