BENEFITS OF NICOTINE

Should your patients use nicotine for its potential benefits?

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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "I have heard nicotine can boost focus. Is it safe to take it for that reason?"

Concise Conclusion: Assuming we aren't talking about smoking cigarettes and similar products, which are very bad for your health, nicotine may enhance focus, memory, and attention. However, the risk of addiction is very high, and so minimizing how frequently and how much you take is important. Non-inhaled versions that contain no tobacco are preferable. Withdrawal symptoms can include anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbances.

Quick Wrap-up: We don't have an exact science on this, but keeping use below 5 mg/day, and not every day, is likely a safe bet. Avoid nicotine in a developing brain (e.g. younger than mid-20s).

Dive Deeper

1) The Duration of Nicotine Withdrawal-Associated Deficits in Contextual Fear Conditioning Parallels Changes in Hippocampal High Affinity Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Upregulation - PMC

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