Stress Smoking

Does smoking make stress worse?

Feeling irritable, anxious or grumpy? Worried about money, work or family? When you’re stressed, you might want to reach for a cigarette. But does smoking relieve stress? Or can it actually make stress worse?

The simple answer is that smoking does not target the real cause of stress. You can get caught in a repetitive, negative cycle of smoking and stress. Your nicotine addiction can even increase your stress levels as you might worry about the impact of smoking on your health or finances.

On the other hand, quitting smoking is known to improve your health and wellbeing. It can reduce the risk of certain illnesses, boost your mood, lower anxiety and help you to feel calmer. And it can save you money.

Understanding the relationship between smoking and stress can help you take the first step to quitting. If you want to beat the cravings and stop stress smoking, we explain how it’s affecting your body and provide alternative ways to unwind and relieve stress.

If you have relatives or friends who smoke to cope with stress, please share our advice with them.

How does smoking affect your body?

Heart rate increases

Nicotine increases your heart rate and your blood pressure. Your heart works harder and pumps faster as it pushes the nicotine up to your brain quickly, actually increasing stress in your body.

Dopamine levels decrease quickly

Dopamine is a chemical made in the brain that is released in response to an achievement or something ‘good’. When you feel pleasure or motivation, that’s dopamine.

Nicotine causes the brain to release dopamine. This is why smoking will give you an initial surge of enjoyment. But that release you feel when you smoke in response to stress is short lived and leaves your body looking for its next ‘hit’.

Dopamine is responsible for that great feeling you get when you achieve something, so you could be missing out on that feeling of satisfaction from achieving your stopping smoking goals?

Cravings cause withdrawal stress

Ever feel like you finish one cigarette and pretty soon you’re craving another? The stress you feel is actually caused by the dopamine response you had to the cigarette you just finished!

When the feel-good factor caused by dopamine drops away, your nicotine cravings get to work. The result is that you quickly feel worse than before you had the cigarette.

The key to managing cravings is finding a way to replace the dopamine response from nicotine with an alternative way of generating this response. You can use stop smoking aids, such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), or vapes to give you the same nicotine without the harmful part of the cigarette.

Less oxygen gets to your body and brain

Smoking restricts oxygen to the body and brain. This is because every puff contains carbon monoxide, which binds to the haemoglobin in your red blood cells, preventing oxygen from doing so. This puts additional strain on your lungs, heart and brain, stopping them from working as well as they should. This increases not just stress but also the risks of illness, such as stroke or dementia.

Risks increase if you have high blood pressure

Smoking causes a temporary rise in blood pressure, causing the blood vessels to narrow making it harder for the blood to flow. If you smoke and have high blood pressure, your arteries will narrow much more quickly, resulting in an increased risk from heart and lung disease in the future

You get caught in a negative cycle

A big part of why you feel stressed is because of nicotine cravings caused by smoking. While you get some relief when you smoke, you crave another shortly afterwards and start feeling stressed again.

While nicotine is responsible for these feelings and cravings around smoking, it is relatively harmless. It is the carbon monoxide, tar and toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke that are seriously damaging your health.

What can you do instead of smoking when stressed?

When you’re feeling stressed, the most important thing you can do is focus on what you can control. This could be something really small as long as it gives you a feeling of achievement.

If you smoke when you’re feeling under pressure, here are some alternative ways to unwind and relieve stress. Some of them involve family and friends, so they are a great way to help others who are also trying to quit smoking.

1. Call or meet up with a friend and talk about how you’re feeling
2. Do some light exercise, such as stretches at home or a short walk – there’s lots of advice and apps available on the NHS website
3. Cook a healthy meal for yourself or for your family and friends
4. Listen to your favourite music or podcast or watch your favourite TV show
5. Spend time in your local park or go for a walk along a local river or canal (just 20-30 minutes in nature can lower stress hormone levels)
6. Try doing some deep breathing or meditation – you might like to download an app, such as Calm or Headspace. There are also free meditation resources available through Good Thinking
7. Get a good night’s sleep – you can find advice about sleep on the Good Thinking website

How can Stop Smoking London help you to break the stress smoking cycle?

Sign up for free daily motivational texts to support your quit journey, tailored around the five most common reasons for quitting

Download an app to help you give up smoking

Find support in your London borough (you’re three times as likely to quit successfully with help from your free local stop smoking service)

Understand the relationship between smoking and mental health and between nicotine and anxiety

Learn about the benefits of quitting smoking

Read our guide about helping a loved one to give up smoking

Use our calculator to find out how much money you could save if you stop smoking

Get inspired by stories of other Londoners who have given up smoking