Why Quit Smoking Patches Don't Work

There are many ways to stop smoking these days, and most of them involve a form of nicotine replacement. The nicotine patch is the most popular form of smoking cessation available on the market today and it has certainly worked for a great many people. But, considering the high price of the patch, you are making an expensive gamble when you buy quit smoking patches because the chances are much less than fifty percent that they will work for you.

If you have never used or even seen quit smoking patches, they are transdermal patches. This means that they transmit drugs through the surface of your skin into your bloodstream through a small patch that looks like a large bandage. They use a light adhesive to keep the patch in place and they are kept on for anything from eight hours to an entire day. You can swim and shower with them on, and they will keep sending nicotine through your blood.

The theory behind these patches is that the nicotine that they give you takes the place of the nicotine you would get in a cigarette. But, many people misuse them. They will buy quit smoking patches to wear on long flights, to take the place of smoking. They will use them at work, and then take them off as soon as the work day is over and light up.

The real problem with quit smoking patches is that although they do replace the nicotine you would get from cigarettes, they do not replace the cigarette itself. They are no replacement for the ceremony that is tapping your pack of cigarettes, sliding one out, putting it in your mouth, lighting it, sucking on it, and feeling the wonderful feeling of the smoke going into your lungs. Patches don't give you that enjoyment.

In fact, no quit smoking method will replace the enjoyment that you feel when you light up that first cigarette of the day, or the one you have after a long time without one. That is a feeling that non-smokers can never understand. So, if you are going to quit smoking, you really have to do more than just contain your nicotine cravings. You have to change your life completely so that you can live without the feel, the touch, the smell, and the excitement that is a cigarette. If you can do that, then you can quit for the rest of your life.