There is a negative perception of nicotine. If we ask 10 people, probably 8 would say that nicotine is harmful. However, there aren’t conclusive studies proving that nicotine has a negative impact on health, and it’s all based on hypothesis. In addition, many people don’t know about nicotine and health benefits. Has nicotine any health benefits? The short answer is ‘yes’, but many researches are still on a preliminary stage.
It sounds even controversial to say that nicotine has positive health effects, but there are studies that prove its potential benefits.
1. Nicotine and Parkinson’s disease
Perhaps the most promising studies about nicotine and health benefits are researches about nicotine and its neuroprotective properties. Some studies have reported beneficial effects of nicotine in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. According to the American Academy of Neurology “current smokers were 44 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who had never smoked”. Furthermore, snus users (snus is a Swedish moist powder smokeless tobacco product widely used in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland), have a substantially lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.
Tobacco smoking has many negative effects, but it seems to protect smokers against Parkinson’s disease. People who smoked for 40 years or more are 46 percent less likely than those who never smoked to develop Parkinson’s disease.
Nicotine stimulates all the nicotine receptors both in the peripheral and the central nervous system. Consequently, nicotine is being researched as a possible useful medicine in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Obviously, the idea isn’t that you start smoking, but to create nicotine intake alternatives that won’t harm your lungs.
2. Alertness and Nicotine
Nicotine is a stimulant that helps to sharpen attention and to improve memory. In addition, nicotine improves visual perception and focus by enhancing stimulation of areas traditionally associated with visual attention, anticipation and motor activation.
Brain scans have proved that nicotine improves tasks performance. Furthermore, nicotine enhances attention on task demands. Apparently, nicotine shifts cognitive resources from more inactive parts of the brain to regions required for task performance.
Moreover, nicotine improves prospective memory, in other words, the brain function that involves remembering to perform a planned action or recall a future planned intention.
The habit of smoking to study to remember information and enhance concentration, makes sense. Nowadays, you can get the necessary dose of nicotine with healthier methods such as vaping or nicotine patches.
3. Nicotine and weight loss
Perhaps you have heard about quitting smoking and weight gain. Apparently, nicotine reduces appetite, and this was well-known by pre-Columbian civilizations, as nicotine was used for its appetite suppressant properties.
Nicotine activates areas in the brain that suppresses appetite. Nicotine releases neurochemicals such as dopamine, serotonin and norephedrine that acts as appetite suppressants and thus it helps to reduce weight.
Many smokers are deterrent to quit smoking because they are afraid of weight gain. Consequently, researchers are trying to develop nicotine-based medicines to be used as food suppressants, not only for smokers but also for people who have eating or endocrine disorders.
4. Nicotine and memory
It seems as nicotine acts as a memory booster. In addition, there are ongoing researches about nicotine treatment for people who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Apparently, nicotine improves attention and memory.
This explains why so many smokers are craving for nicotine while they are studying. This is probably one of the most interesting nicotine and health benefits. Just, if you’re a smoker, don’t for get to switch to a healthier nicotine intake alternative (gums, patches, vaping).
5. Nicotine and Attention
You will even find information about CBD and ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) treatment. ADHD is usually treated with stimulants such as Ritalin (methylphenidate). It seems contradictory to treat hyperactivity with a stimulant, but stimulants help people who suffer from ADHD and ADD (attention deficit disorder) to focus.
Moreover, people who suffer from ADHD are more likely to smoke. According to CBS, approximately 40% of adults with ADHD smoke. Moreover, there are studies proving that nicotine administration in adults with ADHD show improvements in cognitive performance.
In addition, nicotine is a stimulant (like Ritalin) and it may have similar properties as ADHD medications.
Again, we don’t say that you should pick up vaping or smoking to treat ADHD. To be more precise, this post is about ongoing researches about nicotine and its possible uses to treat attention deficit or Parkinson’s disease. There are dozens of articles about this subject and we are informing here about potential benefits of nicotine.
6. Nicotine and reaction time
It has been found that nicotine improves reaction time in IQ tests. According to this study, “Twenty-nine subjects performed a reaction time task with four levels of choice-task complexity under non-smoking, sham smoking, and low, medium and high nicotine cigarette conditions. Nicotine reduced decision time, while sham smoking increased decision time”.
Athletes and Nicotine
Obviously, if nicotine reduces reaction time, then many athletes would benefit from the use of nicotine. Moreover, athletes can benefit from the food suppressant nicotine properties in order to control their weight.
Smoking or chewing tobacco is a harmful habit. Chewing tobacco was generally associated with baseball, and these studies explain why baseball players could benefit from nicotine usage. In addition, it’s very common to use snus by Scandinavian athletes because it helps them with reaction time and concentration.
7. Schizophrenia and Nicotine
Nicotine can relieve symptoms of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. As a matter of fact, the smoking rate of people who suffer from schizophrenia, anxiety and other metal illnesses are much higher than the rest of the population. It is believed that they “auto-medicate” themselves with cigarettes. However, smoking is a dangerous habit and that’s why scientist hope to develop nicotine medicines to treat schizophrenia and other brain disorder. Again, researches are still on a preliminary stage.
According to a study published in the journal Nature, nicotine may help schizophrenia patients. Hypofrontality (present in schizophrenic patients) is a decreased of cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex. Hypofrontality causes many brain disorders, included schizophrenia. Studies on mice have proved that nicotine helps to reverse Hypofrontality by acting on nicotinic receptors.
However, it’ s important to emphasize that researches are still on a preliminary stage.
8. Nicotine and Alzheimer’s Disease
Smoking increases the risk of dementia due to all the chemicals and carcinogenic present in tobacco smoking. However, there are some evidences that nicotine may reduce the risks of dementia. According to Alzheimers.org, “there is some evidence that nicotine actually reduces the risk of dementia”.
It’s true, however, that more research is needed to determine to what extent nicotine is useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Conclusion: Nicotine and Health Benefits
Firstly, we are not stating that nicotine is a cure or a treatment for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or ADHD. This article is about preliminary studies and potential benefits of nicotine.
The articles consulted to write this post are journals of scientific prestige and at no time is it being claimed that nicotine is currently a treatment for any of these diseases. I repeat, nicotine has potential medical uses that in some cases are very promising, but this does not mean that neither smoking nor vaping will be a solution for any of these medical conditions.
Nicotine and Health? Some Potential Benefits of Nicotine was originally posted by E-Sigaret Nieuws
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