Cast your mind back to the first cigarette you ever smoked. You may have taken your first drag for all sorts of reasons - peer pressure, curiosity, the urge to impress someone - but what can be said of virtually everyone is that the first time is rarely a pleasant experience. Remember the jolting taste, the scorching sensation at the back of your throat, the coughing that almost inevitable followed ?

Now think about the last cigarette you had. It could have been yesterday, a few moments ago, you may even be smoking as you read this. Where's the jolting reflex action, that pain you experienced when you inhaled for the first time ?

Some might argue that their bodies have simply become used to the processes involved with smoking, that hundreds, possibly thousands of cigarettes after that first harsh drag they have developed a way to accommodate the discomfort of smoking by adapting to it. In one sense these people might be right - for hardened smokers, the few minutes it takes to smoke one cigarette rarely contain any real surprises - but in another sense you'd be very, very wrong.

The Endorphin Affair

Endorphins are biochemical compounds released by the brain in a controlled manner. What they ultimately do is aid relaxation and bring about a sense of well being – it’s perhaps useful to think of them as nature’s own painkillers.

These are the key to those psychological difficulties many people experience during their attempts to quit. The release of endorphins is carefully controlled by the brain in the form of a natural cycle, which will provide the average person with a ‘boost’ of well-being when the body’s system feels they need one.

The chemical and biological reactions that take place during smoking, however, result in this process of endorphin release being triggered artificially. That is to say, when you smoke a cigarette you trigger a mildly concentrated ‘hit’ of endorphins. The famous ‘smoker’s rush’ you occasionally feel after smoking a cigarette quickly? That’ll be the endorphins, released at the very moment you inhale. Plus, as nature’s painkiller, they also do a good job of counteracting the painful effects of smoking, which is why so many associate inhaling from cigarettes with feelings of pleasure rather than discomfort.

Of course, the real downside to all of this is that as a smoker your brain releases endorphins more frequently and in more concentrated bursts than those without the habit. Consequently, once you stop smoking and no longer get this ‘pleasure rush’ as often, you may find yourself feeling angry, anxious, edgy, nervous, tense or withdrawn. Sound familiar?

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