What exactly is a crave?

[shojam]

A crave is like your first boyfriend dumping you and he won't take you back....you think you love him and could never survive without him. You pine for him when you think about him. You know he had treated you badly but it doesn't matter, he is what you want . Then you see someone else you quite fancy, your thoughts swap between the two, you start dating the new guy and you occasionally think of the ex. The more you get to know your new life with the new guy, the more you like it and the more you don't want to go back to ex. The first love will always be a part of you, but you now know your life is so much better without him.......not that I have ever been dumped hee hee

[suze14]

Ha ha rogue .. yes it is good DGee

(here is another post of DGee's which caught my imagination http://forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/sho...highlight=dgee )

Shojam that hit a chord!

That masked stranger in a black cloak slinked out from behind a tree today whilst I was having an otherwise beautifully sunny walk.

You know what scares me (if in fact us scots can be scared by anything) is that when the 'crave' hits, it is so subtle and creeps up on you like the time since quitting .. this last month and more of coming to terms with how futile smoking actually is .. just didn't exist!

But we all know the answer to foil that little black shadow within us ... NOPE !
(that and logging on here lol)

[rogue]

Haha that's another great post by him. Thanks for the link

[1Bluetree]

Its what makes you get out of bed..and go to the local store..
and buy your cigarettes! A crave makes you dig in the couch for
change so you can BUY some cigarettes! That is a crave!

[Nutmeg]

Originally Posted by DGee

A crave is a mysterious figure dressed in a long black coat, and a black fedora, who keeps his face hidden from view with his arm. He's always standing in the shadows, beckoning you with a "Pssssssst! Hey kid! Over here!"

If you look his way, he begins to tempt you with (what turn out to be empty) promises.

"You look a little anxious," he'll say. "I can help with that. Why, I can make it go away altogether!" Then he moves deeper into the shadows, beckoning you to follow.

Or, "You feel so good right now, after that big meal. Wouldn't you like to feel just a little better?" and again, he's gesturing you to follow him.

A crave is a pusher, an evil, candy-from-a-stranger fellow, who must be avoided at all costs. What he offers is fools gold and empty promises.

Craves are liars, con artists, deceivers, thieves and killers. They are the worst of the worst, no matter how convincing their spiel, and they must be avoided at all times.

Never talk with a crave. Never try to reason with him, engage with him, or even joke with him. A crave is deadly serious and he wants to take you down - all the way down.

A crave tries to look like a friend, but he's not. He's a creepy, self-serving, self-centered devil who would buy your soul for the price of a pack of cigarettes.

I hate the crave.

This is good
Fi

[nonico]

Craves are desires. Craves can be good or bad; some help us to survive others kill us.

For example, every 8 weeks or so I will crave fatty food: usually I've felt very tired for a few days too. I think it's my body telling me my energy input has not been sufficient and I need to do something about it. This may be considered a "good" crave in that it's in response to a deficiency in my body. I don't think all craves are in the mind - some have a biological basis.

Craves are bad when they're destructive such as craving cigarettes or alcohol if you're an alcoholic. In the case of cigarettes, science tells us cravings are in the mind - there is no physical dependence on cigarettes. However, with alcoholics, the cravings can be biological due to a physical dependence on alcohol. Apparently, in full on alcoholics, the body stops producing the correct enzymes.

[Biggrin]

There might also be a science angle on this. Nicotine activates receptors in the brain which release dopamine. Dopamine makes you feel good. Once the nicotine is no longer present, less dopamine is released. The reduced levels of dopamine make you feel bad (empty, needing, craving, demented etc). After a while the brain realises that the nicotine isn't coming back (which takes the brain 6 to 12 weeks) and reduces the number of receptors that are fired by nicotine. This process is called "downregulation". Once the brain has downregulated dopamine can be maintained at comfortable levels, and the (physiological) cravings stop.

So, one way of looking at a craving is to say that it is a too low level of dopamine.

On a highly unpleasant note, I saw somewhere on the net that a form of torture has been developed which involves administering a substance to the victim. The substance drastically lowers dopamine levels (and also possibly other feel-good substances). The effect this has on the victim is devastating.

[nonico]

H Biggrin

I agree totally about the dopamine. I know that I would not have had the confidence to give up smoking unless I knew of a way to increase my dopamine levels without smoking.

From experience, I knew that yoga increased my dopamine levels. The reason I knew this is that once I started doing yoga, and had been doing it for a few years, smoking started to give me a hangover. My body was getting too much dopamine from both yoga and smoking. I researched what a hangover was and it's due to the body going from high to low dopamine levels.

The fact that I knew how to get a dopamine high ( a healthy one ) without smoking gave me the confidence to give up cigarettes. I'm addicted to yoga and exercise now but it's a healthy addiction and I'm OK with that.

[Biggrin]

Smoking addiction or Yoga/exercise addiction......... I know which one i choose!

[austinlegro]

Originally Posted by Biggrin

There might also be a science angle on this. Nicotine activates receptors in the brain which release dopamine. Dopamine makes you feel good. Once the nicotine is no longer present, less dopamine is released. The reduced levels of dopamine make you feel bad (empty, needing, craving, demented etc). After a while the brain realises that the nicotine isn't coming back (which takes the brain 6 to 12 weeks) and reduces the number of receptors that are fired by nicotine. This process is called "downregulation". Once the brain has downregulated dopamine can be maintained at comfortable levels, and the (physiological) cravings stop...

This is actually the 'official' why we smoke cigarettes answer. It's pretty much a blueprint for NRT promotion and can be understood by most people.

However...

There are some massive counter arguments that are difficult to get around;
Craves would be greatest when our nicotine levels were at their lowest - they're not.
Consumption of nicotine in a (theraputic) manner similar to cigarette smoking would avoid craves - it doesn't.
Quitters could stub out a real fag and switch effortlessly to a E-Cig - they don't.

Craves are almost always merely a mental prompt to smoke and those prompts are generated by habit, mood, location, hunger, anxiousness, boredom, day of the week, and so on. The desire to smoke is not related to the distance from the previous smoke.

The scientific angle is what is targeted by the mainstream quit methods and not unsurprisingly produces the same results as using no method at all.
When I was at University we used the term QED.

This thread is quite relevant I think?