Preview

Nicotine Addiction Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
388 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nicotine Addiction Research Paper
Nicotine Addiction
People start to smoke at an early age, usually during their teenage years. By the time they become adults, they are addicted and it may become difficult to quit. Many individuals smoke for different reasons, the image of fitting in or stress related issues are two explanations people perceive. The addiction is real and cigarette users do not realize the health effects tobacco will cause. Surgeon General C. Everette Koop reported that nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products are addictive as heroin and cocaine (Byrne, 1988).
Nicotine is a stimulant contained in tobacco products that causes changes to the brain and behavior. It interacts with nicotinic receptors in the visual, limbic, and motor systems to increase brain metabolism, as it goes straight to the brain. Studies show, nicotine causes skeletal muscle relaxation, increases heart rate and blood pressure, and regulates the levels of a wide range of chemicals in the blood and brain. Which are the same effects as cocaine and heroin. (Byrne, 1988).
Once tobacco users become addicted, the process of trying to quit becomes challenging.
…show more content…
Which only last from a few days to a few weeks, usually the difficult withdrawals are the first few days. To help smokers quit, there are different options to help kick the habit, such as therapy, gums, patches and sprays. However, research shows, a drug called gamma vynal-GABA (GVG), may help cure nicotine cravings. The drug works by blocking a brain enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter which prevents neural activity. GVG has been used for years to treat epilepsy in different countries and may possibly be a cure to treat cocaine addictions. Although, the research is not completely effective yet, doctors and scientists are working together to find a potential cure for tobacco users, to help fight the on-going habit of nicotine cravings (Wickelgren,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The American Lung Association reports that teens who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime find it hard to quit, even if they want to do so. Some teens develop addictions even more quickly, and they experience cravings for nicotine quite soon after initiating cigarette use. Teens can also become addicted to the process of smoking, finding it difficult to even think about going through the day without the ability to unwrap a pack of cigarettes, flick open a lighter or hear the paper of the cigarette crackle with…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Smoking can lead to nicotine addiction. It changes your brain and it develops extra nicotine receptors to accommodate the large doses of nicotine from tobacco. When the brain stops getting the nicotine it’s used to, the result is withdrawal. It can cause you to be anxious, irritable, and have strong cravings for nicotine. It also effects your health by weakening your immune system, chronic cough, shortness of breath, taste and smell are also effected.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    short lab report bio 102

    • 1527 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Now in the case of nicotine it is known that, “ is mostly excitatory, inhibitory at some sites, activating receptors between some neurons of CNS, and neuromuscular junctions in PNS” (CCNY lab manual, 2014). According to Adam Cloe, Nicotine looks like a neurotransmitter that are called acetylcholine, and as a result nicotine can increase acetylcholine signaling through the brain (2011). We all know that acetylcholine is essential for the movement of our muscles, so an excess of it could cause paralysis and asphyxiation ( web.williams). Therefore we ended up hypothesizing that increasing the concentration of nicotine would decrease the pulsation rate. In this case we used 0.05mM, 0.25mM, and 1.0mM concentrations of nicotine.…

    • 1527 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Withdrawal from nicotine has two parts, which are the physical and the mental. The physical symptoms are annoying but are not life-threatening. Nicotine replacement and other medicines can help reduce many of these physical symptoms. Most smokers find that the biggest challenge is the mental part of quitting. If a smoker has been smoking for any length of time, smoking has become linked with nearly everything he/she does, such as waking up in the morning, eating, reading, watching television, and drinking coffee. This is why, even if a smoker is using a nicotine replacement, he/she may still have strong urges to…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nicotine Addiction

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many treatments for nicotine addiction including replacement therapy which is Nicotine substitution treatment. This is safe and great in treating nicotine dependence.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Zajdel Yung D., Thong T., R. Beck Ellingson V. & Oken B. 2003. Effect Of Nicotine On Heart Rate Varibility. 923.5.…

    • 4396 Words
    • 31 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In another article in the Harm Reduction Journal, Riccardo Polosa, Brad Rodu, Pasquale Caponnetto, Marilena Maglia, and Cirino Raciti argue most smokers are faced with few options when they are looking to quit. They describe how tobacco harm reduction is the key to reducing the long-term health risks of smoking because this method involves removing tobacco combustion from the equation. They claim that nicotine by itself has little to no health risks and has even been shown to be beneficial to treat certain conditions such as depression and attention disorders. As a result, when complete nicotine cessation takes place, these underlying conditions are left untreated. And finally, they argue that if harm reduction policies were put into effect, potentially “millions of lives could be saved” and potential costs could be avoided (Polosa et al. 7). In my life, both of my grandparents were hard smokers and suffered from smoking related conditions. If only they had known that other alternatives were available, I am certain they would have given them a try. It makes me sad that other alternatives were available to help them and if only they had been properly educated they could still potentially be…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tobacco is one of the most widely used substances around the globe. Tobacco is an agricultural product made from leaves from a plant known as Nicotiana. It is also a very important cash crop for Cuba, China, and the United States. Today statistics show that 1 out of 7 Americans who try to quit after they are already addicted can’t. Tobacco is a psychoactive drug that is used in everyday life for instance: Cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, dip, hookah, and snus. Not surprisingly, nicotine was the psychoactive drug responsible for the greatest mortality, accounting for slightly more than half of…

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Addiction To Nicotine

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages

    It is a commonly known fact that the use of tobacco products will increase the destruction of any given person's health. How is it possible that most food products sold to the United States public must pass the FDA checkpoints? Yet our government is allowing manufactures to distribute a cancerous product at an financially affordable cost. There are many ads, commercials, and billboards posted around populated areas or on television to drive home what smoking really costs; yet a majority of our population today is still consuming these products. According to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, from…

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ebbert, Jon O., et al. "Effect Of High-Dose Nicotine Patch Therapy On Tobacco Withdrawal Symptoms…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Overtime a person can become physically dependent on and emotionally addicted to it. Quitting cigarettes is just as hard as quitting heroin and cocaine. Some people succeed going cold turkey. When some smokers have to quit gradually or try it step by step. When quitting cigarettes smokers are afraid of the side effects as in weight gain or withdraws, so they prolong the quitting process. “In a 2007 review of the effects of abstinence from tobacco, Hughes John R. ed concluded that anger, anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, and restlessness are valid withdrawal symptoms that peak within the first week and last two-four weeks."[1] As for the weight gain Nicotine curbs the appetite and triggers the liver to release glycogen. Nicotine is a stimulant, and may also interfere with the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin controls glucose levels in the blood. When this function is blocked, a person will become slightly hyperglycemic, and as a result, the body and brain may slow down the hormones and other signals that trigger feelings of hunger.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Is Tobacco Addictive

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this article CEO's of major tobacco companies went on record in front of congress to testify as to is nicotine addictive. They all answered no. they where all operating under an assumption nicotine isn't addictive, In fact long-term tobacco use has a deadly effect on smokers as well as nonsmokers. Second hand smoke can cause childhood asthma. In adults that used tobacco long-term brain effects caused by nicotine exposure resulted in addiction. Nicotine's pharmaceutical properties lead cigarette smoker mostly to abuse nicotine. When tobacco products absorb rapidly into the blood then to the brain causing the brain to release adrenaline and increase levels of dopamine creating energy and a pleasurable feeling which fades…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    student

    • 712 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Firstly, BAT scientists are looking for ways to make an addictive product that will include nicotine. One of their inventions include the Y-1 tobacco. Since cigarette makers expand tobacco to save money in an attempt to give more air and less leaf to customers, on the contrary, Y-1 tobacco released nicotine more slowly and steadily as it burned, giving the smoker a nice and smoother smoke (p 318). This makes the user feel relaxed, and enjoy the cigarette while smoking it. The label on this cigarette packet read “Increased smoker response is asso-ciated with nicotine reaching the brain more quickly” (Associated Press, 1998). In other words, the principle reason of increased smoker response is due to the speed of which nicotine flows to the brain. Moreover, the faster it reaches the brain, the larger the impact of the drug, and also the more addictive he/she will become to smoking cigarettes.…

    • 712 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why People Smoke

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For smokers, smoking is not just a habit. It is also a performance of difficult to refuse nicotine addiction. We now understand that it's this substance that keeps people smoking, despite all the warnings. Nicotine is a kind of alkaloids exists in the Solanaceae plants,and an important component of tobacco. Nicotine is an addictive drug. Because addiction to nicotine is as strong as an addiction to heroin, abstinence is difficult. When smokers smoke, smog carries the nicotine into the body. 90% of the nicotine is absorbed by the lungs, 1 / 4 of which is absorbed into the brain within a few seconds. Nicotine is combining with the receptors to produce dopamine. Dopamine can make people feel cheerful. However, nicotine is very easy to be out of the body. With the reduction of nicotine in the body, the secretion of dopamine levels decreased rapidly. Smokers may feel irritable, malaise, nausea, and headache and have a desire to add nicotine. Once nicotine replacement, the dopamine is immediately dumped. So smokers feel good again. They formed a "reward circuit”…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People, who smoke cigarettes usually start at a young age, some don’t. Most are influenced by his/her parents, family members, or just being around multiple people that smoke. Smoking is probably one of the hardest habits to break. I started smoking at age ten and have been smoking since. It started off as just something I thought I would do, because everyone else around me was doing it. Both of my parents smoke and most of my family does as well. Later on down the road it became more than just an addiction to me, it was something I had to have, and going a day without a cigarette was the hardest for me. After ten years of smoking, I finally made the decision to give it up, and save my health before it became too late. To quit smoking you have to go through a lengthy process, and through rough times, but in the end it’s all worth it.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays