I wanted to talk more about a statement made in one of my previous posts, however, I wanted to wait until I had been cigarette free for about a month. I’m on day 29, and the statement was “quitting has the same benefits as taking anti- depressants”. At the time I had only been 18 days without cigarettes and, despite the withdrawal symptoms, was already noticing a big difference in my mood and anxiety levels (or lack thereof). Today, still no anxiety, depression, Ativan, alcohol, and best of all guilt! 

   I also read about a recent study that showed nicotine appears to have anxiety-producing properties. It stated that although regular smokers may find that cigarettes have a temporary calming effect, (because smoking relieves their nicotine withdrawal symptoms), regular smokers who quit smoking for more than two weeks had lower anxiety levels than when they were smoking regularly. Based on my experience…