This Is Your Brain – On Nicotine
Many of us have bad or even dangerous work habits, like not using a respirator when we should. However, once we learn about the dangers we face and train to work in a safe and healthy fashion, we are better able to break those bad habits.
Many people think of tobacco use as a bad habit they need to break. They may build a variety of habits around tobacco use—like taking work breaks or smoking after meals -- but tobacco is not just a "habit." Tobacco is an addictive drug that has real effects on the brain.
Recent research reveals some of the ways tobacco affects the brain:
* Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that attach to receptors in the brain. Nicotine acts like a neurotransmitter that is important in many functions including muscle movement, breathing, heart rate, learning, memory, mood, appetite, and more. When you stop using tobacco the receptors miss the stimulation of the nicotine.
* Dopamine is a substance in the brain that increases our sense of well-being and happiness. Like many addictive substances, nicotine raises the level of dopamine in the brain. This short circuits your brain's ability to make dopamine without the nicotine.
Tobacco is more than a bad habit. Nicotine actually changes a tobacco user's brain chemistry. Many of these changes in brain chemistry are permanent enough that if a former smoker has a cigarette, even years after they've quit smoking, they will soon be smoking as much as before they quit.
Quitting is not easy-but it is possible.
If you want to quit, call the California Smokers' Helpline
1-800-NO-BUTTS for free confidential help
Sources: Journal of Neuroscience 26(34):8707-8714 (August 21, 2006)