Nicotine's Effects on the Brain & Body & How to Quit Smoking or Vaping
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In this episode, I explain how nicotine impacts the brain and body, including its potent ability to enhance attention, focus, and alertness, increase blood pressure and metabolism and reduce appetite. I discuss nicotine’s ability to increase the action of neurochemicals, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine and activate sympathetic (alertness-promoting) neural circuits. I also discuss common nicotine delivery methods, such as cigarettes, vaping, dip, and snuff, and how they each create their own unique experience and how they, but not nicotine itself, cause cancer and other adverse health effects. I also explain science-based tools to permanently quit smoking cigarettes or vaping, including peer-reviewed clinical hypnosis tools, antidepressants, and alternative nicotine replacement (patches, lozenges, gums etc.). As nicotine is one of the most widely used substances with billions of users — most of whom report wanting to quit — this episode ought to be of interest to former/current nicotine users, those who want to quit smoking or vaping and/or those interested in learning the biology behind how nicotine impacts the brain and body.
Articles
- Predictors of smoking abstinence following a single-session restructuring intervention with self-hypnosis (The American Journal of Psychiatry)
- Effect of hypnotic suggestion on cognition and craving in smokers (Addictive Behaviors Reports)
- Pharmacological Approach to Smoking Cessation: An Updated Review for Daily Clinical Practice (High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention)
- Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators (Behavioral Brain Research)
- Cigarette Smoking Saturates Brain α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors (JAMA Psychiatry)
- Nicotine Addiction: Neurobiology and Mechanism (Journal of Pharmacopuncture)
- Nicotine and sympathetic neurotransmission (Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy)
- Cigarette Smoking and Erectile Dysfunction: Focus on NO Bioavailability and ROS Generation (The Journal of Sexual Medicine)
- Tobacco, Nicotine, Health, and Mental Health (Encyclopedia of Mental Health)
- Time for a smoke? One cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes (BMJ)
- Chronic E-Cigarette Use Impairs Endothelial Function on the Physiological and Cellular Levels (Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology)
- Impact of Smoking on Cognitive Decline in Early Old Age: The Whitehall II Cohort Study (JAMA Psychiatry)
- Acute Effects of Nicotine on Physiological Responses and Sport Performance in Healthy Baseball Players (Environmental Research and Public Health)
- Predictors of smoking abstinence following a single-session restructuring intervention with self-hypnosis (The American Journal of Psychiatry)
- Effect of hypnotic suggestion on cognition and craving in smokers (Addictive Behaviors Reports)
- Pharmacological Approach to Smoking Cessation: An Updated Review for Daily Clinical Practice (High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention)
- Nicotine Withdrawal (The Neuropharmacology of Nicotine Dependence)
Other Resources
- Chemicals in Cigarettes: From Plant to Product to Puff (U.S. Food & Drug Administration)
- Reveri
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