In 1946, tobacco companies used medical professionals to promote their product, going so far as to place an ad that read: “More doctors smoke Camel than any other brand.” Many doctors did smoke, so the message landed, despite the campaign being devious.
Doctors are at it again these days, consuming nicotine and promoting its health benefits. This time nobody is paying them or skewing the research – they believe in it. After decades of vicious court battles, a whole industry laid waste and thousands of people losing their jobs, we have come a wobbly full circle. It is a stunning comeback for a villain, unmatched in modern times, except perhaps for Donald Trump.
In an era where we observe our experts on YouTube, prominent doctor and health podcaster Dr Peter Attia openly admits to using nicotine. “I love nicotine,” he says. “It’s all about nicotine.” He explains that nicotine helps enhance cognitive function and decreases appetite. These are powerful benefits if you ingest the nicotine more safely. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor at Stanford University, and he confirms these effects on his science podcast. He adds that the addictive nature of nicotine should be a note of caution to potential users, even if you can absorb the substance without the harmful delivery devices of tobacco cigarettes, vaping or snuffing. Chewing it in gum or ingesting it via a pouch in the mouth is a good way to avoid cancer and emphysema, heart attacks and yellow teeth.
Health gurus, doctors and Nobel prize winners are popping nicotine gum like Chappies. Let us open some wrappers and see what the fuss is about:
Did you know? Nicotine has many positive benefits:
- It makes you feel better.
Nicotine triggers the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, which is part of the reward pathway. It increases feelings of well-being and motivation. You can take an ice bath for six minutes, go to a psychologist for an hour or smoke a ciggie for an instant hit of dopamine – it is up to you.
- It helps you concentrate and increases alertness.
The dopaminergic effects of nicotine have been shown to have cognitive benefits and help people focus. Your alertness is up, your heart rate is up, your blood pressure is up but your muscles are slightly relaxed. That is a good state for your mind and body to deliver good cognitive work.
- It helps you lose weight.
Nicotine decreases appetite and increases metabolism by binding to the alpha-4 beta-2 receptors in the brain. You can go to the gym for an hour every day, join Weight Watchers or pop a gum, your choice.
– Enhances workouts
The data for nicotine directly improving exercise routines is not convincing. Still, there seems to be a positive effect due to the enhanced motivation effects nicotine provides, as well as norepinephrine (adrenaline) fluctuations.
Attia admits that the addictive nature of the substance is a potential risk, but that he is immune to it. He reports that he can discontinue the pouches any time he wants without cravings, but that others might have a weakness that might predispose them to becoming ‘addicted.’ It is the same argument offered by Purdue when faced with lawsuits in the Oxycontin scandal: “It is not the substance, it is something wrong in the user.”
Huberman has a more nuanced caution, relating to the habitual use of nicotine and coffee. These two habits can change the future of humanity. He explains that these substances, because of their frequency of use and the social nature of their consumption, affect the mesolimbic pathway in people, especially youngsters. It makes them more likely to need a dopamine hit more often in any form they can get, making them more prone to other addictive behaviours (like social media addiction) which can then lead to increases in depression and suicide, and shift their experience of how they feel in the world. Conversely, the heightened ability to focus might lead to increased creativity and productivity. It is amazing to think that coffee and nicotine, which are available without prescription on street corners and cafes and pharmacies, can shift the world.
Did you know? Smoking has not been proven to be as dangerous to your health as you think? (It is still pretty bad, though.)
While we all accept that there is no ‘safe’ number of cigarettes to smoke per day, some data from the WHO (World Health Organisation) suggests a threshold of about 8 cigarettes a day as a point where no hormetic benefit might be achieved. Hormesis is the biological dose-response relationship of your body to environmental agents in which it adapts so you can tolerate some increase to potentially harmful substances until a threshold is reached, after which you are no longer protected. Certainly, according to medical aid claims data and public health stats, obesity is responsible for double the number of deaths than tobacco per year and four times that of alcohol abuse. So read the warning label of the cigarette packet, but take a step back to get a fair assessment of your absolute risk. Human health is such a complex set of systems that it is often impossible to prove causality with anything, even if you do double-blind randomised control trials. Humans make risk assessments on more than physical effects. We experience the universe emotionally, socially and psychologically. What is ‘worth it’ for one individual might not be the same as for another. It is a complicated branch of mathematics that each person has to calculate for themselves. This is why, in free societies, we often leave the decision of bodily responsibility to the individual.
Did you know? Smoking cigarettes has the following health benefits?
The act of consuming nicotine in cigarette form remains popular around the world. It is not just the nicotine, the habit has other observable rewards that keep people going back:
- The smoke break:
Taking regular breaks from your computer screen has benefits. It gives your brain time to breathe and refocus. The first-morning smoke break on the balcony also exposes you to the sun at a low solar angle, which helps reset your circadian rhythms properly.
- Conscious breathing:
Smokers often report that it helps them think. Part of this sensation is due to deliberate breathing. Deep inhales are associated with increased mental function while long exhales help you relax. It is the total package.
- Mindful detachment:
The mindful smoke break can be a form of detachment and meditation. Separating yourself temporarily from the environment associated with a mental block can help you gather your thoughts and make you more productive.
I miss smoking my Camels. I used to smoke a lot. But when I broke my daily record of 80 it was getting a bit much. I eventually stopped because of peer pressure. The quitting process is difficult because the positive effects of smoking are ubiquitous and gentle, plus they are quick and effective. It is not just the neurochemical interactions that leave a big hole in your soul, one misses the ritual of taking the cigarette out, walking to the balcony as you wistfully stare into the sky while solving a problem. For a while, you feel happy and everything seems possible.
The gum gives you a nice buzz, but it is not the same. It has a harder edge to it which made me jittery. I tried combining it with my ADHD medication a few times, but it gave me a headache, so I stopped.
I am pro-smoking, chewing or snorting nicotine. Your body, your risk. During the Covid lockdown debacle, the smokers were the only ones who stood up for their right to autonomy over their bodies. Bravo to them!
Human existence can be so complicated and miserable. Often it is the small pleasures and sensations of being slightly more alive and somewhat more alert that are affirming.
Think carefully before taking up or giving up anything.
[Photo: By State Library and Archives of Florida – https://www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/8969352345/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53520835]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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