One of the most common reasons why people smoke is that they believe that it reduces stress.
The answer to this is yes it does and no it doesn’t. When the nicotine from your cigarettes enters your system your blood vessels very rapidly constrict and your blood circulation is reduced. When you are stressed your muscles clench and need an increased blood supply. You smoke which interferes with this supply, the result is that it increases stress!!
There is a part of smoking cigarettes that reduces stress and this is the hand movements of smoking and the inhaling and exhaling. In fact, this is the adult version of sucking on a dummy, or pacifier. Next time you are stressed go to the chemist and buy yourself a dummy. Take the dummy and suck on it and put it in and out of your mouth. You will have exactly the same results!!
This is not a good image and there are other better ways to reduce stress. The first step is to quit smoking, quit sucking on a dummy. The second step is to find another healthier way to reduce stress. There are many ways to do this but my favourite is deep breathing.
When you get stressed take in a deep breath whilst pushing your tummy out. Breathe in whilst counting 3 and then breathe out whilst counting 5. Keep doing this until you feel a little dizzy from the increased oxygen. This releases feel good hormones into the system but more importantly, whilst you are busy counting you cannot think about what is stressing you. This gives you the chance to respond rather than react to the situation.
It makes sense to quit smoking cigarettes to reduces stress because of the health problems it creates. It makes sense to find another healthy alternative to reduce stress.
