Posted by jgalt I think what I convey may be useful since many folks here seem to concentrate on enjoyment of the product more than addiction to it. I'm not going to challenge whether or not it is enjoyable since that's a personal thing, but I'll say that in my opinion, if a person can avoid addiction to ANY substance it is a good thing since addiction alters your lifestyle and limits your available choices. But enough moralizing - nobody made me a deity. How to avoid tobacco addiction. Addiction to nicotine requires that a certain threshold of nicotine consumption be crossed more often than not, and that threshold is 5.3mg/day. If you consistently limit consumption to less than 5.3mg/day, you will NOT get physically addicted. Physical addiction to nicotine is the result of artificially increased levels of dopamine in neural junctions which leads to a decreased number of dopamine receptors. Thus, without the nicotine, the natural level of dopamine is not sufficient. Keeping nicotine consumption below 5.3 mg /day will allow you to avoid the decreased number of dopamine receptors - and hence addiction will not occur. My wife smokes a brand which has .7mg nicotine per cigarette. In order to get addicted, she would have to smoke 8 or more a day. She has always limited herself to 5 or fewer (or 3.5mg nicotine) which is well below the addiction threshold, and one or two days a week she doesn't smoke at all. As a result, she has no problem when we go places where smoking isn't an option - such as a relative's wedding or whatnot. She can go a day or a weekend without smoking and not lose her mind. Likewise, by doing this her consumption is at a level that is clearly less harmful than that of a pack-a-day smoker and it doesn't interfere with other more healthy lifestyle choices like regular exercise. Thus - my wife gets to have her cake and eat it too: she can enjoy smoking (for whatever reason) and avoid both addiction and heavy-duty harm. What could be better? Back to moralizing. We can debate the aesthetic issues about smoking - and if someone thinks it is "sexy" or otherwise aesthetically pleasing, that is absolutely his/her right. But I cannot even imagine how someone would consider *addiction* to be ipso facto aesthetically pleasing. Addiction is addiction - no matter whether nicotine, alcohol, caffeine or crack cocaine. Certainly, some of these carry heavier societal/personal costs than others, but addiction in all cases limits a person's choices rather than expanding them. Thus I provide the information on how NOT to be an addict. Peace and good luck!
on 24/4/2007, 9:08:54
24.233.95.25
I happened upon this board by clicking a series of links. Very interesting! I can't claim to share fetishes etc., but may have something to contribute based upon my wife's experience - but I'll throw some science in there too.
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