Why is smoking so addictive – and what are the best ways to give up?

Smoking is bad for you and you shouldn’t do it. It is worth reiterating because a quick puff isn’t just a long-term gamble on your health; cigarettes are also wildly addictive. Some research suggests as many as two-thirds of people who try one cigarette become, at least temporarily, daily smokers, while a recent survey found fewer than one in five UK smokers trying to quit actually managed it.

Estimates for the average number of attempts before success range from half a dozen to well over a hundred. When you inhale, a noxious mix of nicotine, irritants and carcinogens stuns the cilia that line your airways, and nicotine is absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream and on to the brain within about 10 to 20 seconds.

That triggers a rapid release of dopamine and serotonin and also unlocks the adrenal glands, producing epinephrine and norepinephrine; nicotine levels peak after about 20 minutes. Withdrawal follows quickly because nicotine’s half-life is about two hours, and many smokers’ dopamine receptors have become desensitised.

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