The Second Drug in Cigarettes – Do Cigarettes Relieve Stress?

“The Second Drug in Cigarettes – Do Cigarettes Relieve Stress?”

by James Hazlerig, MA, Certified Hypnosis Practitioner

Everyone knows that cigarettes contain the drug nicotine, along with about a hundred and fifty poisons. But most people, even smokers, don’t know that cigarettes contain from 8% to 18% sugar.

When a smoker lights up, that sugar bypasses the digestion and goes straight to the bloodstream, causing a sugar rush. A few hours later, dropping blood sugar creates the same symptoms as hypoglycemia: cold sweats, irritability, clammy palms, shaky hands—symptoms usually mistaken for nicotine withdrawal.

How does the sugar get into the cigarettes? When tobacco leaves are being cured, they are soaked in sugar water and set to dry in huge barns. Of course, while the leaves are in the barn, the sugar attracts all kinds of pests: ants, cockroaches, mice, rats. In addition to urinating and defecating in the leaves, the pests eventually die from nicotine poisoning.

There’s no good way to strain them out, so when the leaves are ground up, the dead bugs and rodents get ground right in. Ever had a cig that didn’t taste right? That’s because you were smoking rat.

The active ingredients in cigarettes are nicotine and sugar—both stimulants, which do their best get your body amped up; in other words, cigarettes simulate stress, not relieve it.

But smoking seems to relieve stress. Why? Oxygen.

Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic response—also known as “rest and digest,” the opposite of “fight or flight.” In other words, deep breathing tells your body to let go of stress.

Most people never take a deep breath. Most smokers take a deep breath only when they first light a cigarette. So all that oxygen goes to the brain and helps the smoker feel calm.

The good news is that you can learn to breathe properly without having to inhale toxic cigarette smoke. A hypnotic stop smoking specialist can teach you to use deep breathing to release stress so that you’ll never need a cigarette again.