Nicotine Addiction - How Long Does Nicotine Stay In Your Body? - Nurse's Guide

Breaking any type of addiction can be difficult. And it's thought that nicotine addiction has been especially hard to break. It's well known by now that nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes many changes in the brain. These changes may cause smokers to smoke even more. Addictive drugs like nicotine can raise havoc with your body and unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal when you try to quit.

When nicotine is present in the system a smoker may feel good and when it's not present a smoker may experience all types of bad feelings. And a smoker may wonder "how long does nicotine stay in my body?"

In the surgeon general's report from 1988 it was reported, and it's still true today, that cigarette and other forms of a tobacco are addicting. The drug in cigarettes and tobacco that causes the addiction is nicotine. Although there are thousands of other chemicals in cigarette smoke, it's the nicotine that is the concern. Even though the other chemicals are harmful they do not have the addictive qualities that nicotine does or so it's thought.

It was also noted in the report that nicotine addiction drug and behavior characteristics are similar to that of heroin and cocaine addicts.

Before I get to the question of how long does nicotine stay in your body it's important to note that when someone smokes a cigarette the body responds almost immediately to the nicotine in the cigarette smoke. It causes a short-term blood pressure elevation, increased heart rate and increased flow of blood from the heart. In the process this causes the arteries to narrow over time.

Carbon monoxide in the smoke reduces the oxygen that the blood would normally carry or supply. So this oxygen deficit, in combination with the effects of the nicotine, causes an imbalance between the amount of the oxygen the blood can supply to the smoker and how much oxygen is needed.

So how long does nicotine stay in your body?

Quite a bit of it, about 90% is metabolized by the liver, and the kidneys get rid of it or excrete it rapidly. The nicotine is present in the blood for about two hours. But this is for what is considered half-life in pharmacology terminology. But because smokers continue to smoke several cigarettes in a 24-hour period there is quite a bit of nicotine accumulated in the body. So it's realistic to think that the nicotine in the body would be present at high levels for up to eight hours after the last cigarette.

Nicotine addiction is just one of many addictions that have been plaguing people for years. But millions of people have quit smoking and there are many ways to quit smoking naturally. You can stop smoking and enjoy better health and a better quality life. Quitting smoking naturally helps you achieve your goal. There are many natural ways to quit without taking harmful drugs like Chantix or using nicotine replacement therapy.