Addictions can be very harmful, but some start small and relatively harmless. Take an addiction to coffee, for instance. It might start out with a cup a day just to wake you up, but quickly turns into a cup every three hours to keep you alert and awake. More than 30 percent of people drink more than 6 cups a day! This is because of caffeine, a substance that is found in coffee. It is highly addictive because of its good qualities; caffeine awakens the senses and makes you more alert. It’s the ideal drug for a workaholic, if you think about it.
Of course, nicotine and tobacco are readily available. It is because of this that it might seem relatively harmless. Don’t underestimate nicotine, however, because it is extremely harmful to your body, and you will get addicted to it more quickly than you can say Jack Robinson. In fact, the market for products that claim to aid you in kicking your nicotine habit is almost as big as the actual nicotine market. Did you know that over 40 million people in the United States alone suffer from nicotine addiction?
Hey, it’s okay to kick back with a nice beer every now and then. It’s cool, we get it! Don’t let your Friday night drink turn into a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday drink, though. Overuse of alcohol will result in addiction, and will ultimately destroy your liver. You need your liver, you know, to stay alive.
“Drugs” is a pretty broad term, but it can be broken into categories. Some drugs are prescribed and taken advantage of, like Vicodin and OxyContin. They might be painkillers, but if you take plenty of them you can get a nice high off of them. Use of these drugs can easily grow into an addiction that is difficult to get rid of. Other drugs are more conventional drugs, like weed. Weed has recently been legalized in some states in the United States, and it has been reported that 4.2 million people are already hooked on the drug. Sure, smoking weed is socially acceptable, but we’re sure the size of this addiction will grow tremendously. Last but not least, cocaine is one hell of a drug. At least 800,000 people agree with that statement, which is pretty scary. Although rates of cocaine addiction are dropping, at least 800,000 people in the U.S alone are still hooked on it.
We’ve all been to a place where gambling happened and I’m sure you have tried your luck once or twice yourself. This is all fine and dandy, until it turns into something more. People get addicted to the feeling of winning, and feel sad when they have lost. It is for this reason that people gamble; so they can win just a little bit more. Or so they can win “their money back.” Of course, they will probably never actually win their money back, and will only end up spending more and more. That’s when it gets personal, and that’s when a harmless bit of fun can turn into a full blown addiction. There’s software out there that will help people block gambling site advertisements, but you’d have to pay for that. Other treatments for a gambling addiction are staying off the internet, avoiding gambling places, and actually going to a rehab facility.
Believe it or not, at least 11 percent of humanity is addicted to sex. This includes viewing pornography online, as well as engaging in sexual activities with a partner or random person. Sex, to them, is compulsive and not something they do out of love. Individuals that suffer from sex addiction often have low self-esteem. The confidence boost from having sex (“wow, this person wants me!”) is a Band-Aid on their lack of self-esteem. Individuals suffering from an addiction to sex or pornography would do well with avoiding these subjects for a while, and should focus on building meaningful relationships with people, rather than just going straight to bed with them.
This might be a surprise to you, but some people are actually addicted to using the internet. It’s not strange, either, seeing as the younger generation grew up using computers and getting to know the internet. We grew up on there! You can find just about anything on the internet. It can be a useful resource, or an endless library of pornography of all sorts. It’s all about how you use it, and more importantly: how long you use it for. Take a break every now and then. Come on, put your phone away. Just for an hour, you’ll find it makes a difference!
