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Study Links Smoking and Alcohol Abuse

By Jeannie Colter

In many social settings, smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are things that seem to go hand in hand. It may be that when people see others they admire and think look sophisticated doing both of those things, they followed suit. Imitating what seems popular surely factors in to a number of human behaviors but now research has gotten into the science behind this.

Perhaps you have not previously considered that there could be a connection between smoking and alcohol. According to Nature World News, “For year, researchers have known smoking represents a risk factor for later alcohol abuse…” but they really didn’t know exactly why until recently. Sometimes we are not aware of subconscious and chemical roots of what we think of as conscious decisions.

Lab experiments with rats showed that once the animals were exposed to nicotine, they wanted more alcohol than rats that had not been exposed to nicotine: “…even a single exposure to nicotine temporarily changed how the reward system in the creatures’ brains responded to alcohol, increasing the reinforcing properties of it via stress hormones.”

In many cases, people who seek treatment for substance abuse at Maryland Alcohol Rehab Centers have exhibited compulsive behavior in more than one area. Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are both legal if one is of age but that does not necessarily mean that these behaviors are beneficial. While some people may argue that the detrimental effects of smoking can vary or that a lot heavy drinkers manages to function quite well, an individual that has succumbed to addiction may feel awful on the inside no matter what image they project to the world.

With addiction people lose the choice to voluntarily smoke or drink; instead they are compelled to engage in these behaviors for reasons they may not completely understand. And their attempts to break free may lead to temporary relief but they find it hard to implement lasting change. This is when it becomes necessary to see the assistance of competent and compassionate addiction recovery professionals of Maryland Alcohol Rehab Centers.

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