Many smokers find themselves drinking a lot and they even find it harder to quit drinking while smoking. Why is smoking and alcohol linked?
Our brain naturally releases its own stimulants and when you smoke the brain gets overstimulated. Nicotine smokers constantly have anxious, uptight feelings that are way exacerbated with heavy smoking and since alcohol is a depressant it relieves the anxious uptight feeling that smokers often have. It can create a counter-effect due to over stimulation, taking the edge of that unpleasant feeling and calming smokers down. This leads to heavy smokers drinking more to get more relief.
It also goes both ways, since alcohol is a depressant, it leaves us lightheaded and slow. Nicotine, being a stimulant, takes the edge of it and makes the smoker feel more awake.
So when people are drinking they will often reach for a cigarette to counter the sedative effects of the alcohol which they drank to counter the over stimulation of smoking, what a trap they're locked into!
A good question here, what’s more effective, to quit drinking first or to quit smoking first?
It’s more effective to quit smoking first because part of the need to keep drinking is caused by nicotine and the anxious feeling it gives. Studies suggest that alcoholics who quit smoking are more likely to succeed in alcoholism treatment.
The truth is people use either alcohol or nicotine to try and reach the inner peace that a non-smoker naturally has, and they would have when they stop using both drugs.
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