While sleepiness doesn’t affect everyone, it does for some. Why?

Nicotine, the addictive substance in cigarettes, acts as a stimulant. It affects your brain by boosting the release of chemicals, including noradrenaline, dopamine, and acetylcholine, which enhance alertness and reduce feelings of fatigue. These chemicals, before you started to smoke, were released naturally. Your brain and body got used to relying on the nicotine to to stimulate the release these chemicals.

When you stop smoking, the sudden absence of nicotine causes a decrease in the levels of these chemicals, leading to reduced natural stimulation and an increase in sleepiness. Your body now has to adjust to functioning without the artificial boost from nicotine, and it can take some time to normalize.

Additionally, smoking can affect the quality of your sleep. Nicotine disrupts sleep architecture, which refers to the different stages of sleep you go through at night. Smokers often experience more fragmented sleep and spend less time in deep, restorative sleep stages. When you quit smoking, your body begins to recalibrate its sleep patterns. This adjustment process might initially make you feel more tired during the day as your body attempts to catch up on quality sleep it previously missed.

Furthermore, your body is going through a big change when you stop smoking. Your body is working hard! That alone can cause sleepiness.

If you’re one of the people who feel tired when stopping smoking, please know that this won’t last forever. Your body will start adjusting within a few days with some people taking a little less time, some longer. If you don’t need to head into work or be there for the kids, etc., just crawl under the covers and sleep. If not, go throughout your day and know that this too will pass (and remember next time you think, I can have just one, you don’t want to go through this again!). Soon, you’ll feel all the benefits of being a nonsmoker. Yay!