Currently, the Tobacco Cessation Department at Anaheim Regional Medical Center (ARMC) serves over 3,700 people who want to quit smoking each year. On average, this means the department helps 10 people quit smoking every single day. With a staff of 11 and services offered in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Farsi, the Tobacco Cessation Department has come a long way since 2003, when it was first established at ARMC.

Citation:

https://rehabs.com/pro-talk/what-does-happiness-have-to-do-with-smoking/

Nicotine is known to briefly elevate mood. When smoker inhale nicotine and tobacco products, the brain triggers “feel-good” neurochemicals called endorphins and increases dopamine levels. However, this increase is thought to only occur for a short amount of time.

Given dopamine is linked with reward, researchers believe that smoking increases happiness initially but increases the need for more nicotine once that dopamine dies down. It is believed that this leads smokers to pick up more and more cigarettes as their day goes by because the brain wants to maintain that feeling of satisfaction or relief.

Nicotine hijacks the reward and feel-good system of the brain, leading to an unbalanced mood. This can cause individuals to feel and report being less happy compared to those without nicotine.

The data is clear: happiness can decrease once people take up smoking.

Many people may take up smoking as a response to feel temporary happiness when the feelings of unhappiness are present.

The good news is that people who quit smoking report increased happiness. According to studies, ex-smokers happiness levels were at the same level with that of nonsmokers after a year or more of quitting.