Facts About Nicotine

Nicotine derived its name from Nicotiana tabacum the scientific name for the tobacco plant. Before learning other facts about nicotine, let us understand what is nicotine. Naturally, it is found in a colorless, liquid form with a pungent smell and a strong flavor. Nicotine is hygroscopic in nature and it readily mixes up with water. When it is exposed to air, it turns brown. Like caffeine, nicotine is also an alkaloid, an organic compound that mainly consists of hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen.

Nicotine Toxicity

Nicotine can penetrate through the skin, lungs and mucus membranes of the gums and nose very easily to enter your body. It reaches deep into the lungs of the tobacco user and then it is readily absorbed into the bloodstream which carries it throughout the body. Then it starts affecting the brain, the hormone system, blood vessels and metabolism.

Nicotine moves through the body so fast that it can reach the brain within 8-10 seconds of inhalation of the smoke. Nicotine has a strong resemblance with a nerve signal transmitter named acetylcholine. The main function of this particular transmitter is to send messages between the brain cells. Presence of nicotine in the brain changes the functioning of the brain.

Under the influence of nicotine, the brain triggers rapid secretion of adrenaline hormone which in turn results in increase in heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing. It energizes your muscles instantly as the adrenaline hormone sends out the message to the body to release some of the stored glucose from the blood. Nicotine can stop the release of insulin hormone that absorbs the excess of glucose from the blood. As a result, the blood sugar level increases temporarily.

Nicotine tend to increase the bad cholesterol or the LDL in the body which has a damaging effect on the arteries. Thus nicotine makes people susceptible to heart attack and stroke. You will be surprised to know that nicotine can get into the placenta of pregnant women and cause harm to the unborn child. It can get mixed up with the breast milk of the breast feeding mother too.

Addiction to Nicotine

In the brain, nicotine gets attached to certain brain cells that releases a compound called dopamine and increases the level of the neurotransmitter in the brain. This compound has a stimulating effect on the pleasure circuit of the brain. The excess of dopamine makes the user alert almost instantly and gives pleasure feelings. These effects of nicotine lasts hardly for 40 minutes. As it subsides, one feels the strong urge to have more cigarette or tobacco products. This way addiction develops in a person.

Due to the side effects, the level of dopamine in the brain decreases with time. This is because the brain tends to cut down on its manufacturing of the compound in order to cope up with the higher level of dopamine present in it. So, the tobacco user has to ingest higher amount of tobacco to keep the level of dopamine in the brain normal.

Low level of dopamine makes one depressed and irritable and a person crave to have cigarettes. As the body gets used to the effects of nicotine, more and more number of cigarettes are needed to get the same kind of stimulation. As a result, a smoker ends up having a pack of cigarettes daily.

When a person tries to quit tobacco, then he or she experiences withdrawal symptoms as the body reacts adversely to the low level of nicotine. They are: depression, anger, restlessness, anxiety, headache, dizziness, sleeping problems, concentration problem and so on. As a result, a person resumes smoking all over again to get some comfort. However, if a person resists this urge, the discomfort will subside within a month or so. Some people have found that quit smoking products like gums and patches are helpful to cope up with symptoms of nicotine withdrawal as the rate of absorption of nicotine is quite slow and they do not give enough pleasure.

I sincerely hope that the nicotine addiction facts provided in this article inspire people to avoid nicotine altogether to keep themselves healthy. Even one week of smoking or use of any other tobacco products can lead to addiction and have a damaging effect on your entire body system.