Tobacco addiction is a chronic addictive disease. Nicotine is the main component of tobacco responsible for its addictive power and the maintenance of its consumption, whose potential for dependence seems equal to or greater than that of other psychoactive substances.

Its consumption over time produces a high degree of tolerance, which implies a reduction in the effect obtained from nicotine and the need for a progressive increase to achieve the same result. Additionally, withdrawal syndrome appears when consumption ceases, manifesting as an intense desire to smoke, irritability, anxiety, mood alterations, and increased appetite.

With each cigarette, the smoker consumes between 1-2 mg of nicotine. This reaches its maximum levels in the bloodstream and penetrates the brain, where the concentration of nicotine is five times higher than in the blood, acting on multiple areas that stimulate the release of neurotransmitters involved in addiction.

All these neurophysiological changes induced by nicotine in the central nervous system produce pleasurable and rewarding effects in the early stages of smoking, which favors the maintenance of consumption and develops, in later stages, dependence and withdrawal symptoms upon cessation, complicating smoking cessation.

Genes can influence the age of onset of tobacco use, the intensity of smoking, and nicotine addiction during adulthood.

Smoking behavior is a complex process that often begins in adolescence, frequently as a search for new sensations or as a way of integrating into a group. According to WHO, more than 60% of young people have tried tobacco before the age of 15, and almost a third are active smokers by the age of 18. It initially starts as a voluntary action, which then becomes difficult to control and abandon. With the first cigarettes, chemical addiction to tobacco has not yet consolidated, but psychological dependence has already begun to manifest in various ways: “it makes me seem interesting, many of my friends smoke, they offer me cigarettes and have managed to catch my attention, I don’t like waiting with nothing to do.”

This dependence leads the smoker to believe that tobacco is part of their life and can lead them to think that they cannot live without the cigarette. The symptoms of withdrawal syndrome caused by chemical dependence disappear much sooner than those caused by psychological dependence. This is because nicotine receptors learn to live without nicotine much sooner than we learn to avoid the habits associated with tobacco use, habits that can take years to start forgetting. These habits and social acts (meetings, with coffee, friends…) are the most challenging moments in the process of desensitization, but it is necessary to establish new habits to eradicate the old ones.