Some nicotine facts

1. Nicotine addiction has been one of the hardest addictions to break.
2. Insignificant amounts of nicotine is also found in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and leaves of cocoa plants other than tobacco.
3. Like caffeine, nicotine is toxic to certain insects and was used as an insecticide.
4. Nicotine burns at a temperature below it’s boiling point, which happens continuously as a cigarette is smoked.
5. It takes only 7 seconds for nicotine to hit the brain when inhaled.
6. The pleasure feeling generated by nicotine is similar to that caused by cocaine and heroin, thus causing the addiction associated with the need to sustain high dopamine levels. Smoking has been reported to make you feel relax, calm, and alert.
7. Even concentration and memory are increased, but all nicotine effects will only last from anywhere between 5 minutes to 2 hours. To sustain the pleasant effects, a smoker would have to puff an average of 20 cigarettes in 24 hours.
8. Quick puffs by smokers produces a stimulating effect, whereas deep puffs produces a relaxing effect. This is because quick puffs produce low blood nicotine levels, whereas deep puffs depresses the passage of nerve impulses, producing a mild sedative effect.
9. Nicotine reduces appetite and raises metabolism, a possibility for weight loss.
10. 50mg of nicotine is the average lethal dosage to kill a human being. Very, extremely lethal compared to common street drugs like cocaine. A cigarette contains an average of 1.5mg of nicotine.
11. Know that nicotine on its own does not promote development of cancer. However, nicotine suppresses apoptosis, an automatic process by the body to remove mutated or damaged cells that may become cancerous. This leads to encourage cancer cells to develop.
12. Nicotine exposure could cause the netopathological changes experienced by infants dying from Sudden Death Infant Syndrome.
13. 82% of schizophrenics smoke, due to the desire to self medicate, seeking the short term effects of nicotine.
14. The only medicinal use of nicotine is to treat nicotine dependent people through gums, dermal patches, lozenges or nasal sprays.
15. Many research has been carried out on the risk lowering affects of nicotine towards Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease happens when dopamine in the brain is less than acetylcholine. Nicotine decreases acetylcholine levels.