Does Smoking Cause Anxiety?

When I smoked, I would hot box a cigarette like none other whenever I was anxious or stressed out. Even now, whenever I am stressed out, which is nearly daily, a cigarette is the first thing I think about. Smoking raises the heart rate, so why is it that in times of anxiety do smokers reach for a cigarette and smoke it so fast it looks like they're going to eat it? Doesn't smoking make anxiety worse?

In my opinion, I would say no. This is only because I still smoke on occasion, and the act of smoking a cigarette actually appears to calm me down. I attribute this to the fact that I am addicted to smoking and find the release in giving in to be therapeutic and calming for me, and much easier than fighting the craving when I am so stressed out I want to pull all my hair out. But does smoking cause anxiety or calm it down?

A team of researchers at the Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute found that smoking actually increases a young adult's chances of developing psychological stresses, such as agoraphobia and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, due to the constant need of having a cigarette and fearing being in a situation in which they cannot light up. When a person craves nicotine on a daily basis, particularly heavy smokers of 20 cigarettes a day or more, the fear of being in public places where smoking is not allowed can trigger the anxieties that can affect them for life. Scary.

According to the team's study, it was found that adolescents who smoke 20 cigarettes or more a day are 7 times more likely than non-smokers to develop agoraphobia (fear of public places and being outside), 5.5 times more likely to develop Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and 16 times more likely to suffer from a panic disorder of some sort by the time they reach young adulthood. The study attributed these anxiety disorders to the extreme addiction to nicotine that makes being in a situation in which nicotine is unacceptable or unavailable simply unattainable.

In times of stress, when a cigarette is unavailable, the feeling to get out and get to a cigarette can be unbearable, so the anxiety to just get a cigarette immediately sets in. Once the cigarette is finally lit and the nicotine is getting into the system, the calm sets in as the ability to smoke is finally realized, which is why many people (including myself) falsely believe that cigarettes calm anxiety rather than cause it. However, according to the study, it's the addiction to cigarettes that causes the anxiety in the first place. Another great reason not to start smoking in the first place.

Source:

personal experience

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