Many people who smoke cigarettes say that they do it to relieve any stress that they may have. Smoking does and it does not relieve stress.
When you inhale the nicotine from a cigarette it causes your blood vessels to constrict, this interferes with your blood circulation. When you get stressed your blood goes to your muscles so that they can react, they tense up. Smoking interferes with the blood circulation and makes the stress worse!!
On the other hand, the act of putting a cigarette to your mouth and taking it away plus the deep breathing of the smoke helps relieve stress. It is the adult equivalent of sucking on a dummy!
Next time you get stresses get hold of a dummy and suck on it. It will give you the same relief as smoking a cigarette.
This exercise releases feel good hormones into the system and the act of counting means that you cannot concentrate on what is upsetting you. It allows you to step back and respond rather than react.