Does Smoking Help With Anxiety?
If there is one thing that smoking is commonly associated with, it is that it is frequently used as a stress reliever during tough situations. All over popular media, like in movies, television shows, and music, smoking cigarettes or other forms of nicotine is seen as a quick relief for spikes in anxiety or nervousness. This could cause many people that suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder or other forms of anxiety to try smoking to quell some of its most annoying symptoms. But does smoking help with anxiety? Counseling of Southwest Florida and our Florida addiction therapy professionals take a closer look in the following article.
Does Nicotine Help With Anxiety?
Everyone that suffers from generalized anxiety disorder knows, probably more than anyone else, that this is a constant battle that involves dealing with negative emotions and uncomfortable physical symptoms. Our Florida addiction professionals work with many people suffering from anxiety and the accompanying frustrating symptoms. These symptoms lead many people to self-medicate with drugs, alcohol, or nicotine, thinking that the temporary and immediate effects of these substances somehow help them deal with what they are experiencing inside.
Does smoking help with anxiety? Smoking nicotine is not a recommended treatment for anxiety or its symptoms for a number of reasons. The link between nicotine and anxiety is one that is explored extensively by medical professionals. While it is noted that the immediate effects of ingesting nicotine include providing a sense of relaxation and anxiety relief, the detrimental long-term effects on the lungs and other organs in the body are simply not worth it. Some of the most noted effects that nicotine has on the body include:
- The increased risk of cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal disorders
- Decreased immune response
- Increase in oxidative stress
- Increase in cancer risk
Does nicotine reduce anxiety? While nicotine can help with anxiety, it does not address the deep underlying cause of anxiety, which is extremely complex and requires professional guidance. In fact, using nicotine to deal with anxiety could prolong the time that you take to get help since you could get accustomed to using it as a crutch.
Does Vaping Cause Anxiety?
The inclusion of vaping into many people’s everyday lives has made smoking nicotine more accessible than ever before. Gone are the days when going out for a smoke break involved standing in the cold or smelling bad for hours after. Though some states have made indoor vaping illegal, many smokers can inhale nicotine at all times of the day, which makes anxiety-related smoking a much bigger issue than before.¹
Does nicotine cause anxiety? While the jury is still out on whether or not vaping could be linked to an increase in anxiety, it is generally accepted that vaping does not do anything to positively impact someone’s mental health or anxiety. In fact, According to a 2019 JAMA study of nearly 30,000 current e-cigarette users above age 18, frequent vaping is tied to even higher odds – 2.4X – of having a diagnosis of depression compared to never users.²
In other words, there is a link between depressive symptoms and frequent vaping. If the underlying causes of someone’s anxiety are not addressed, vaping could potentially worsen the symptoms and negatively affect someone’s physical and mental health.
Do Cigarettes Calm You Down?
Yes, cigarettes can calm you down after experiencing some nervousness, but the effect is mostly psychological. Many people that take up smoking or vaping do so because they have oral fixations from childhood and are addicted to the temporary quelling of anxiety-like symptoms that smoking gives. The feeling of relaxation that accompanies this is often purely psychological and not physiological.
To put it simply, though cigarettes may calm people down, they do not directly address whatever is stressing them, and the change is mostly in someone’s head. The best way to deal with these situations is to face them head-on since this could give you the tools and experience necessary to overcome them.
More About Counseling of Southwest Florida
Does smoking help with anxiety? The answer is that it can temporarily help with relieving some symptoms but does not necessarily address them long-term. Much of the same techniques used in group therapy for anger management are also applicable to dealing with anxiety. In fact, much of our grief and loss therapy training or group therapy for bipolar disorder also borrows many of the same concepts. Contact us today to learn more about our marriage counseling in Florida, marriage counseling in Fort Myers, Florida, and our use of the batterer intervention program.
Source:
- https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/factsheets/ecigarette/EcigSFIA.html
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31800073/
Casey is the founder and CEO of Portner Counseling Group (PCG), a counseling center in the Fort Lauderdale area, which specializes with issues related to drug and alcohol use. Casey has completed focused course work on the physiological aspects of drug addiction and human psychology, as well as received extensive training on the treatment of co-occurring disorders.