Giving Up Smoking

The nicotine patch is iconic of stopping smoking. Without having to worry about chewing nicotine gum throughout the day, slapping one of the patches helps the user quit smoking by delivering a preset amount of nicotine throughout the day.

So, how does it work? The outer ring of the patch is an adhesive, which keeps the patch attached to the skin. The inside contains a time-release dose of nicotine.

When applied, the nicotine is absorbed through the skin and provides relief from the physical withdrawal symptoms of smoking cessation. You also get the added “benefit” of really bizarre dreams if you fall asleep while wearing it. They make patches that are designed to release their dose during the day, and be removed at night, but those don’t help with physical withdrawal for most smokers who light up first thing in the morning, as the patch takes a few hours to reach full intensity.

Depending on how heavy of a smoker you are, there are two starting dosage levels for the nicotine patch: 21mg and 14mg, delivered throughout the day. Heavier smokers (around 1 pack per day) starts with the 21mg patch, less frequent smokers start with the 14mg patch.

Supposedly, as you become less addicted to smoking, you can slowly decrease the dose until you no longer need the patch. Annoyingly, this doesn’t actually seem to work in practice. Studies have shown that only 7% of smokers using nicotine replacement products manage to quit for six months or more. 7% is not a very reassuring statistic.

That might be great and all, but you don’t want to have to stick patches on for a month, and that 7% thing probably doesn’t quite do it for you!

Want to take back control of your life from cigarettes right now? Take a look at the EasyQuit System for a great guide on how you can quit without feeling intense withdrawal or spending a fortune on patches!

the nicotine patch – how does it work

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