Understanding Smoking and Mental Health

Do you know how smoking directly coorelates with your mental health? 

Information provided by: Stop Smoking London

Smoking has long been recognised as a leading cause of various health issues including heart disease, respiratory issues and cancer.

However, people are less aware of the negative effects that smoking has on mental health.

In recent years, scientific research has concluded that smoking has a profound impact on people suffering from anxiety, depression and cognitive decline.

Scientific research has found that smoking has a profound impact on people suffering from anxiety, depression and cognitive decline.

How does smoking affect your mental health and wellbeing?

Many people view smoking cigarettes as a stress reliever.

This false perception is due to the chemical reaction in your brain as nicotine stimulates the release of dopamine – giving you a sense of calm after lighting up a cigarette.

The dopamine release provides a temporary sense of relaxation and calmness for roughly 25 minutes when smoking.

However, this relaxed feeling soon wears off and often leads you to reach for another cigarette.

This can quickly lead you to become dependent on nicotine for stress management but in the long term this can make you feel more anxious and increases the risk of developing physical diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia.

I use cigarettes as a coping mechanism

People sometimes use tobacco as a form of self-medication to help alleviate feelings of anxiety and/or depression.

Chronic stress, childhood trauma and other precursors can make you tempted to take up smoking – having heard the false perception that ‘smoking calms you’.

This can create a cycle of dependency, where smoking may temporarily alleviate symptoms, but long-term makes you feel worse and heightens mental health problems while affecting physical health.

Why am I struggling with smoking and my mental health?

If you smoke and have mental health issues, smoking often serves as a coping mechanism – providing you with a way to temporarily manage stress, anxiety, or depressive symptoms.

This reliance can create a cycle of dependency – making it harder to use healthier and safer strategies to manage emotions.

Additionally, smoking is expensive that typically costs over $300 a month on average in America. 

If you’re worried about money, smoking can make feelings of anxiety and stress worse due to the additional cost of funding smoking on top of everyday expenses.