Nicotine is an alkaloid found in tobacco leaves. In nature, it helps repel pests and attract useful pollinators, such as bumblebees.
In humans, nicotine is an addictive stimulant: it acts on receptors in the brain, causes mild euphoria and creates dependence.
Dependence, however, is not the only reason people smoke. Our article explores the habit's possible benefits.
Nicotine as a stimulant
There is a reason smokers start their morning with a cigarette. Nicotine helps them wake up, thanks to acetylcholine — a neurotransmitter that carries signals from nerves to muscles, causing them to contract.
Nicotine mimics acetylcholine and acts as a stimulant, helping people feel more alert and awake. But it can also have the opposite effect.
Nicotine as a calming agent
Subtypes of the neurotransmitter's receptors are present on both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in different parts of the brain. Nicotine can therefore be stimulating or calming, depending on a person's state.
According to a Magram Market Research survey, 69% of smokers say cigarettes help them relieve stress, relax and take their minds off problems.
Nicotine as a regulator of brain function
Nicotine use is common among people with mental health conditions. Estimates from 2000 suggest that people with mental illness consume up to 44% of all cigarettes sold.
They report that cigarettes help reduce anxiety and symptoms of depression. Many people with autism spectrum disorder find rituals calming, and smoking is a way for them to regain a sense of balance.
It is also known that 90% of people with schizophrenia smoke. Researchers link this to nicotine's ability to help them manage the illness. The substance may restore activity in the prefrontal cortex by activating the relevant receptors.
As for nicotine's therapeutic properties, in its pure form it is used in the treatment of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. It helps improve patients' cognitive abilities, including psychomotor responses, attention and memory.
Nicotine as an analgesic
Nicotine is thought to act as a painkiller because chronic use triggers the release of endorphins and enkephalins in the spinal cord.
This effect is most noticeable in men. It is not particularly strong, but nicotine can slightly reduce chronic pain.
Nicotine as a way to lose weight
Since the early 20th century, women have been interested in another property of nicotine: appetite suppression. Fear of gaining weight often stops them from giving up the habit.
Statistically, smokers do have a lower average body mass index than non-smokers. Nicotine acts on the hypothalamus, the main regulator of the neuroendocrine system at the base of the brain. As a result, neurons suppress appetite. Studies in mice have confirmed this effect.
Nicotine also increases tissue sensitivity to insulin and slightly reduces the intestinal inflammation that often accompanies obesity.
Is any of this a reason to start smoking?
In its pure form, nicotine can even be beneficial, but its effects on the human body depend on a range of individual factors. Doctors and researchers unanimously agree that the disadvantages of smoking outweigh the benefits, especially when nicotine reaches a smoker's lungs together with tar, polonium, arsenic, lead, ammonia and organic acids.
Vaping can reduce the harm caused by smoking. E-cigarettes do not contain the harmful substances produced when tobacco burns.
Vaping may help people control their nicotine dose and gradually reduce it. With the desire and sufficient effort, alternative nicotine delivery systems may also help someone overcome dependence altogether.
