this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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They do relieve stress though, at a biochemical level. Also they cause harm and you shouldn't smoke. The harm isn't worth it and they cause physical dependency, including elevated stress when you don't smoke that can only be alleviated by smoking, furthering the dependency. Don't smoke.
But lying about the short term benefits is just like DARE equivocating marijuana and hard drugs: people wind up trying it out anyway, realize they were lied to, and disregard the actual beneficial warnings because the first one was obviously a lie.
When I say that they don’t relieve stress, please understand what I mean.
The net stress received from smoking cigarettes is greater than an individual’s short term benefits. Your health will suffer. Your friends and family will suffer. You are modeling to those around you that smoking is acceptable. “Do as I say and not as I do” is not convincing to everyone because we are social creatures who learn by observation.
Smoking also does not provide any tools to properly manage anxiety or any other types of stress. It does not teach you to tolerate your feelings and work through them. Cigarettes are chemically addictive- your body is stressed when it feels the chemical desire for a cigarette. You crave it. It feels good to use it. It entices you to use more. It rewires your brain to think “I feel something. I need it to change. A cigarette will make me feel what I need.” The more someone uses cigarettes, the more dependent they become and the harder it is to quit.
This is not a DARE or Reefer Madness bit. I am calling out the harm it causes to society. When a show uses suicide as a topic, they typically have a disclaimer and the phone number (800-950-626 in the US) of the suicide hotline. I believe this is important because if someone sees a potentially life ending/ruining topic, they need to be made aware of their options and provided with the facts. In the same vein, if someone is spreading misinformation, fake news, lies, it is important to call them out.
We live in a society, and it is the duty of each individual in our society to look out for one another. If even one person reads my comment and thinks “hmm, this guy took this lighthearted topic seriously for some reason. I wonder why”, I’ve done my job.
needed to be said. thank you
I'm told by 2 coworkers they relieve stress but the effect Is so temporary you have to constantly smoke. So it's not worth it.
Correct
Stopping to smoke also causes massive amounts of stress, and some people are better off not stopping until their mental health improves.
Cigarettes don't relieve stress.
At least not until you've smoked long enough to get addicted.
Have you ever smoked?
Yes. I stopped and started smoking and vaping for the past 20 years.
Cigarettes only relieve stress if you've developed the pathways that let the nicotine behave as a dopamine agonist.
If you give someone who's never smoked a cigarette it's not going to relax them.
That was not my experience the first time. The effect was immediate.
Wow that's curious. I distinctly remember my first time. I held the cigarette in a strange way so that my hand covered my mouth when I hauled, and my roommate made fun of me lol.
It gave me the spins and kind of perked me up when drinking, but that was the extent of anything noticeable.
The immediate like sedating effect I only noticed when I started smoking in the morning.
I remember mine as well, bummed off a friend driving me to pick up my car that had been towed overnight. I distinctly remember being much less upset after the first drag.