How bad is nicotine for your body.

We all know what nicotine is right? It's the addictive substance found in tobacco. It's a little like caffeine and cocaine as in it  it’s a alkaloid and contains nitrogen. It gives you a bit of a 'high' and raises your heart rate. But even though we all know what it is there are a lot of misconceptions about what it actualy does to our bodies and if it can actually harm us.

 

One of the biggest questions is 'does nicotene causes cancer?' This question is often raised because of the relationship between cigarettes, nicotene and cancer. The Royal Society for Public Health’s research found that 90% of people believed nicotine to be harmful to the body. A 2017 study by Public Health England found 4 out of 10 smokers and ex-smokers believed that nicotine in cigarettes was the main cause of smoking related cancers but this simply isn’t true. The reality is that the cancers are actually due to the intake of tar and carbon monoxide. Smokers lose more than 10 years of life compared to never-smokers according to this research document. In 2016/2017, there were approximately 485,000 hospital admission due to smoking showing how much of an impact smoking cigarettes has on peoples health. 

 

A study by the Lung Health Study found that although there was a clear link between smoking and cancer but there was no link between using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and cancer.

 

Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at PHE said, “misunderstanding about the risks from nicotine may be deterring smokers from using quit aids such as e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapies like patches and gum.“

 

Smokers and vapers need the facts on the effects of nicotine and tobacco cigarettes. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that health was the number one reason for ex-smokers to take up use of e-cigarettes.

 

Nicotine is a pretty clever substance

It is able to give stimulation and relaxation by increasing pleasure and reducing stress which is one reason some people will pick up a packet of cigereetes when they are stressed or need to 'relax'. Research shows that over time, nicotine can reduce the brain’s ability to feel pleasure so the smoker would need more nicotine to reach the same levels of pleasure previously reached.

 

Now for the science bit. Nicotine is able to bind to some brain receptors . These receptors are called nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nACHRs). When the binding occurs neurotransmitters are released and these send messages from the brain around the body. One of these neurotransmitter is dopamine. 

 

Dopamine  has a central role in addictions as it enables you to remember rewards and good experiences.Ever head of Pavlov's Dogs? It's a little like that.
 

There is also a bad side to dopamine as it is often the reason for addictions to drug, gambling and sex. But wait, there's more. There are other neurotransmitters that are effected by these weird chemical, nicotene. 

 

Serotonin affects a huge number of bodily functions, but it mainly controls and regulates moods. It’s often named the ‘feel good’ chemical as it’s so highly involved in everybody’s sense of wellbeing.

 

Noradrenaline (also named norepinephrine) is released into the blood as a stress hormone when the brain detects a stressful event. It can cause an increase in heart rate, release glucose into the blood and increase blood flow to muscles.

 

Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that speeds up the activity of neurons.

 

GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a neurotransmitter which slows down neuron activity, the opposite to glutamate.

 

Becuase there are so many effects, neurotransmitters and everyone is so different it's almost impossible to know how it wil effect each person.

 

Nicotine and your heart

Nicotine is a stimulant so there is some link between nicotine and your heart. Nicotine temporarily increases your heart rate which means it has to work harder to pump blood around your body. Blood pressure is also affected, increasing when consumed but wearing off eventually.

 

 

Conclusion

Like most things in life, there are pros and cons to using nicotine. But it needs to be noted and remebered that, the impacts of nicotine shown in research are a lot lower compared to the risks of smoking traditional cigarettes. The idea that nicotene is harmful really needs to be changed as it prevents people from trying new and healthier products such as e cigs and vaping kits. If you learned something from this article, please share it with your network.