CIGARETTES – ONCE AND ALWAYS!

This week, in continuation to my previous post about “Alcohol and its effects on brain”, this time I am going to be talking about another social evil – Cigarettes. Anybody who is in India and a person who regularly visits a cinema theatre cannot possibly claim that they do not know the harmful effects of smoking on our health as well as the health of the people around us. But, those infomercials only talk about the effect of cigarettes on our physical health such as its role in causing cancer, lung diseases, strokes, etc. But , one fact that is always ignored or not given much importance is that Cigarette as it contains nicotine and other “drugs” has a profound effect on our brain which is ever lasting and takes a lot of pain to reverse. 

Whenever, we talk about cigarettes, we talk about how “addictive” they are and that how one puff taken due to peer pressure can lead you to become a slave to the habit. While people generally say these things in an offhand fashion, I think they don’t know how true their words are because this is exactly the most dangerous ingredient is cigarette acts. Let’s first get to know what exactly the term “addiction” signifies.

Addiction is a behavior that comes about in our physical or mental actions , when we need a particular act or object to function normally. Brain communicates with the rest of the body by means of neurotransmitters, that work like small chemicals carrying simple messages according to the command of the brain. They are like small locks and keys functioning to release and stop the secretion of appropriate hormones, in response to the various chemical and physical signals that generate in our nerve endings. For example, when somebody tickles you, it generates a signal in a nerve ending, and according to your brain structure, a particular receptor gets activated and a hormones like dopamine(pleasure) or adrenaline (excitement) gets released. Addiction is when, instead of the receptor our body needs another chemicals to release the hormone required.

So, coming back to nicotine, it makes one to be addictive towards cigarettes is by changing the way brain functions in such a way that without nicotine in our blood, the brain cannot carry out its functions properly. That is, in order to release the pleasure hormone dopamine, instead of the conventional receptor, the brain is sensitized to need nicotine to do so. 

Basically, whenever one takes a puff of cigarette, they inhale about 1-2 milligram of nicotine, which is in its free form and hence gets easily absorbed in our blood levels. The brain now has a large amount of nicotine, and due to which one experiences the presence of large amount of dopamine in one’s system leading to the feeling of being high. But, chain smokers after a while, get desensitized and start experiencing irritation, anxiety due to the cut of the hormone supply, which leads to the craving of one cigarette after the other. Once a huge amount of nicotine is mixed in the blood level, it starts imitating the responses one feels after getting the “kick” of adrenaline or dopamine, which leads them to feel that they are happy again. This is a psychological feeling, caused by the chemical tricking our senses.

It is generally very difficult to quit smoking because nicotine , due to its high concentration in the brain, becomes highly necessary for the brain to function even in a very normal and ordinary way and also , withdrawal of this chemical from the brain leads to a temporary shutdown of some parts of the brain leading to a highly disordered functioning the entire body.

Another note-worthy fact about the cigarette is that research is beginning to show that nicotine may not be the only harmful ingredient in cigarettes. Scientists can see the dramatic effect of cigarette smoking on the brain and are finding a marked decrease in the levels of monoamineoxidase (MAO), an enzyme responsible for breaking down dopamine. The change in MAO must be caused by some tobacco smoke ingredient other than nicotine, since nicotine itself does not dramatically alter MAO levels. The decrease in two forms of MAO, A and B, results in higher dopamine levels. The need to sustain the high dopamine levels results in the desire for repeated drug use.

The above mentioned affects are the one that occur when one starts smoking regularly and is addicted and the reasons behind it. But what happens to the brain structure, when you keep smoking and the nicotine level keeps increasing in your blood?

The result is that while the pleasure and excitement controlling areas in your brain remain highly active (sometimes more than required) throughout, the other areas that control cognitive functions, motor abilities, speech , etc keep declining and at the end, these areas become almost 20-40% less active than of the non-smokers at old age. Also, the earlier you start smoking, the more you become addicted and the more rapidly your brain ages. This eventually puts you at a higher risk of aging related diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, etc.

One of the highly feared disease that comes in old age is the one that completely addles your brain – dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers have found that chain smokers have a high difficulty in remembering names, events and also at associating memories properly with the real events. All these are indications of a high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Though no research has yet confirmed the exact cause for dementia, smoking can definitely shorten the odds of you getting it.  

Bottom line is that you want to get out, get out soon before either your brain gives out or your body does, because then it would be too late to do anything except regret.

-Wanna-be-Savant