Quitting smoking and staying smoke free is no easy task for anyone. Many people can honestly say that they have quit smoking a million times, quitting is the easy part, staying smoke free is the difficult part. The number one reason for this is the simple fact that nicotine is an addictive drug. The body wants it even if you know you have to stop for your own health; the brain forgets common sense and tells you to light another cigarette.

Nicotine itself is an addictive drug that is naturally present in tobacco plants. It is so addictive that it rivals drugs like cocaine and heroine. A person over time, can soon create both a physical as well as an emotional addiction to this drug, and therefore just quitting it is not so easy.

Every time you inhale a breath of smoke, that smoke caries the nicotine into your lungs where it is then absorbed into your blood stream; Once it is in the bloodstream it has access to your entire body. Effects of the nicotine intake can be seen in almost every part of the body no thanks to its absorption into the blood stream.

So to just quit is not an easy task, but even trying to slow down the amount you take in daily will not truly help much. Once your body takes in this nicotine, it can stay in your body for an average of 4 days. That is the hardest part, because as long as the nicotine is in your body, your refusal to take anymore in creates withdrawal from the drug. If you can get past this first week without smoking, your chances of successfully quitting smoking is over 100 times better.

The withdrawal from nicotine is both an emotional as well as a physical effect. The act of quitting is the change of a daily habit that the body and mind has grown accustomed too meaning that your mind has to change which it does not like to do.

Once you quit smoking, your body and mind begin their withdrawal symptoms in about 3 hours. From there, the peak of the withdrawal is at about 3 days, which just so happens to be right before all of the nicotine is flushed from your body. It is a hump that one has to overcome if they want to quit. These withdrawal symptoms can also continue for weeks after the body has been cleansed of the nicotine.

If you are quitting the withdrawal symptoms that you may see are things like dizziness and depression, you may feel more irritable or even suffer from anxiety. It may be harder to sleep or even to concentrate. You could have headaches and even an increased appetite while at the same time feel tired for no apparent reasons.

Remember, that those first 3 days after quitting will be the hardest, and that last day before the nicotine is removed completely from the body that will be harder than any other day.