Are Cigarettes Really Relaxing?

The movies will have you believe that Michael Corleone, of the Godfather fame, worked up his cigarette during stressful situations.

In fact several movies or ad sequences show cigarettes as the best thing to accompany a relaxing scene. A couple who has just finished love making is shown to light up and feel the after glow of sex, a couple of guys are seen to be sitting by the beach with beer and cigarettes in total relaxation, a sophisticated CEO is seen smoking cigarettes while dealing with his clients, Hollywood actors are habituated to chain smoking cigarettes, giving the idea of cigarettes relieving their work stress.

Are we missing a point about the effects of cigarettes?

Are smokers more relaxed than non-smokers?

What does your gut instinct say?

• Do you see a smoker get frantic about getting out of a non-smoking zone?
• Do you ever see a non-smoker head in a hurry for the smoking pits before a crucial meeting?
• Do you see a smoker twiddling his thumbs and ruffling his hair restlessly, in a meeting which lasts for more than an hour?
• Do you see a smoker get agitated when he is asked not to smoke in a restaurant?
• Do you see non-smokers sit in a zombie state, the way smokers do when they are trying to quit?
• Do you see a smoker frantically searching the area for an open provisioning store at midnight if he runs out of cigarettes by mistake?
• Do you ever see a non-smoker take a break every 10 minutes with the pretext of refueling a nicotine addiction?
• Do you see a smoker heading for a smoke after a relaxing meal?
• Do you see a smoker dropping his cigarette ash all over himself and his car interiors while driving, burning his fingers at times and cursing about the whole thing?
• Does an addicted smoker look approachable while he/she is waiting for the next smoke?

The answers to all these questions are obvious. What do they point to? The smoker obviously lives in a reduced state of relaxation, filled with an anxiety to refill his nicotine addiction.

The only time anything close to relaxation dawns on the face of a smoker is when he has taken a huge drag from his cigarette. Is this what relaxation is? That you live in a continuous state of irritation and want. The reason why a smoker feels relaxed while smoking is because of the nicotine craving, which he is fulfilling to reach a normal state.

The normal state of a non-smoker is a state a smoker thrives to achieve on continuous basis by puffing on the cancer stick.