
Do not reach for that next chocolate biscuit, surely it's easy, just a tiny show of willpower...
Oh, you've just eaten it. And now you want another.
If a chocolate biscuit doesn't do it for you, substitute that with a sip of wine, a drag of a cigarette or even finishing a project at work.
All of these can be addictive.
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But what propels some people to repeatedly seek some experiences over others, even at a cost?
Maureen Boyle from the National Institute of Drug Abuse told Live Science:
Addiction is a biopsychosocial disorder.Â
It's a combination of your genetics, your neurobiology and how that interacts with psychological and social factors.Â
That basically means that addiction is a chronic disorder - like type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Though thankfully addiction is preventable and treatable.
But what's to blame?
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Dopamine
Everyone's path to addiction might be different, but the pathways in the brain are pretty much the same.
Addiction severely increases a chemical in the brain called dopamine.
This is a neurotransmitter, meaning it ferries messages across the brain - in dopamine's case, pleasure, which reinforces behaviours essential to survival, such as having sex and eating food.
Unfortunately, drugs are particularly good at raising dopamine levels.
Dr. Hitoshi Morikawa, a neuroscience professor at the University of Texas, told Live Science:
The problem with drugs is that they do the job better that natural rewards.
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Building tolerance and getting hooked
Once we continue using addictive substances, the brain tries to rebalance your out-of-whack brain chemistry and high dopamine levels by producing less dopamine.
Drugs become the new normal - without them, dopamine drops, reinforcing the habit.
Eventually, the need for the drug itself precedes even the pleasure it brings.
As the experience becomes hard-wired in the brain, people, places and events can become so entwined with the drug that they trigger cravings anew.
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Risk factors
We are not all equally susceptible to addiction.
Everything from genetics to poor social support networks can increase vulnerability.
HT Live ScienceÂ