Nicotine boosts attention, precision, motor skills, speed and memory

In 2010 the U.S. government published a groundbreaking meta-analysis, which summarizes the last 40 years of knowledge about tobacco and nicotine effects on the brain. The analysis was conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, headed by researcher Stephen Heishman: Meta-analysis of the acute effects of nicotine and smoking on human performance. Abstract: (3) - full text (4).

The results in Heishman's analysis gives the clear impression that it could turn out to be a very bad idea to try to "eradicate" tobacco. For nicotine has positive impacts in the areas of motor skills, attention, focus, speed and memory - and the effect is significant, the researchers say: The results are not due to statistical chance.

Heishman's team examined all 256 published non-medicinal nicotine tests carried out since 1994 when they conducted a similar study. The tests measured both the effect of cigarettes on smokers - and the effect of non-smoking nicotine on non-smokers.

- 48 of the best quality trials were selected for the meta-analysis following strict scientific criteria: They had to be placebo controlled - with nicotine-free patches and nicotine-free cigarettes - and double blinded, so no subjects knew whether they had received nicotine or not.

Furthermore only trials in which none of the smokers were craving tobacco were used. Thus Heishman excluded the risk that smokers may have performed unusually well because of their relief from the withdrawal effect.

The analysis paints a picture of nicotine as an effective and fast acting drug, which improves the brain's performance in work situations - a genuine "work-drug". Unlike drugs such as alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and heroin, which are not useful during work.

So apart from the health hazards of cigarettes, it seems the only drawback of nicotine is the addictive effect, although this is still controversial among scientists, and should not be confused with dependence on narcotics. And although pure nicotine is poisonous in large doses, there is no evidence of health risks from nicotine in the amounts in which it is consumed using tobacco.

Why are many scientists, athletes and artists smokers?

- The positive effect on the brain may explain why many of history's greatest scientists have been avid smokers - for example Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, both of whom praised the effect of tobacco on their scientific thinking.

Furthermore, it is known that many athletes, creative people, stage performers, writers, musicians and artists through time have been smokers. The nicotine in cigarettes appears to have been particularly important for people who need to produce something unique or competitive in their work.

- Top footballers, in particular, have often surprised the media when it emerged that they were avid smokers, while they were at the peak of their careers. For example, the puritanical British media people couldn't imagine that a top player like Wayne Rooney would be able to deliver top performances for his team, when they revealed it as a scandal, that Rooney is a smoker (5).

- The truth is however, that some of the world's most creative stars - like Zinedine Zidane, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov and many other players from the highest levels of football - were avid smokers while they were at the top of their careers - including the Danish 80's hero, Preben Elkjaer.

Cigarettes have also always been an indispensable part of soldiers' field rations, and still are. A war cannot be won without cigarettes, soldiers said (6) - so in 2009 the Pentagon had to drop a proposal to ban smoking in the U.S. Army after very strong protests from soldiers and veterans (7).

According to Stephen Heishman's analysis, there is a very good reason why competitive people smoke. This is because of the nicotine boost to the brain - nicotine helps them produce better performances.

The effects also suggest an answer to the puzzle of why people start smoking and continue on a permanent basis - and the proof comes paradoxically from the results of the effect of nicotine on non-smokers, who also perform better when they get nicotine gum. Heishman writes:

"... [The fact that] the results are also found among non-smokers is an indirect evidence that nicotine performance enhancing effects may be the reason why people start smoking."

Nicotine makes the brain faster and more precise

The 48 experiments included in Heishman's analysis consisted of several groups of volunteers who had completed a series of standardized computer tests: One half received nicotine, while control subjects received a placebo. With few exceptions, nicotine users did better in all tests, whether they were smokers or non-smokers. This was especially true in the areas of attention, precision, focus, memory and speed - and to a lesser degree of motor skills:

[img]http://dengulenegl.dk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/nikotine_fig.jpg[/img]

Table 1 - from Heishman and others: The table shows nine performance areas that had enough data for the meta-analysis. Six areas showed significantly improved results for nicotine users (red dots) - in three areas results were insignificant (no dots).

The biggest improvements: Short term memory, accuracy - working memory, response time - attention, accuracy - attention, speed - orienting attention. Minor improvement: Fine motor skills.

(k: number of experiments - N: Number of subjects - Hedges's g: 0.1: Minor improvement. 0.3: Medium improvement. 0.5: Big improvement.)

- The researchers also found other areas where nicotine users had significantly better outcomes - including gross motor skills, long-term memory, semantic memory, arithmetic & complex calculations. But these experiments were not used in the analysis because there are still too few experiments in these areas.

Are smokers better drivers and pilots?

- This applies to experiments demonstrating that smoking and nicotine have a significant positive effect on one’s ability to drive a car ( and fly flight simulators (9). Smokers and other nicotine users will score better in driving tests, both in overview, focus and steering maneuvers - and they respond quicker on the brakes, when required compared to non-nicotine users.

These experiments however could not be standardized for the other trials in the analysis, so Heishman calls for more standardized driving and flight tests with nicotine to get an accurate picture of nicotine effects on motorists and pilots.

Stephen Heishman and the research team conclude in the study:

"The significant effects of nicotine on motor abilities, attention and memory, likely represent true performance enhancement because they are not confounded by withdrawal relief. The beneficial cognitive effects of nicotine have implications for initiation of smoking and maintenance of tobacco dependence."

Put another way: Smokers smoke and keep on smoking because their brains work better when they smoke. This is probably also the reason that it is hard to quit smoking. And since experimental animals in laboratories have shown similar results, there is no longer any doubt among scientists:

Nicotine - the active substance in the world's most unpopular plant - the tobacco plant - is paradoxically a "wonder drug" that leads to better job performance. A gift for the working human being?

- Tobacco Harm researcher Professor Brad Rodu from Louisiana University says that Heishman's analysis is a breakthrough in understanding tobacco and nicotine effects. In his article "The Proven Positive Effects of Nicotine and Tobacco" (10) on his blog, Tobacco Truth, he writes:

"This analysis will not please anti-tobacco extremists. It’s time to be honest with the 50 million Americans, and hundreds of millions around the world, who use tobacco. The benefits they get from tobacco are very real, not imaginary or just the periodic elimination of withdrawal."

Brad Rodu has spent many years working in the branch of tobacco science known as Tobacco Harm Reduction. He is a proponent of allowing all use of smokeless tobacco, for example snus and chewing tobacco, which he believes is "almost 100% safer than cigarettes." (11) Rodu conducts his own research into the health effects of smokeless tobacco, with funding from an annual "no strings attached" grant from the tobacco industry to Louisiana University.

“It’s time to abandon the myth that tobacco is devoid of benefits, and to focus on how we can help smokers continue to derive those benefits with a safer delivery system," Rodu writes.

"It is just a misconception that tobacco is all to do with your health retardation. But in actuality, tobacco has many health benefits too. Some of the well-known advantages of White fox Snus and tobacco intakes are; you can use them to maintain your digestive system. Brain nerves and neurons got more active. You can become more focused on your work. It also makes you feel good after getting mentally or physically tired. 

"

You must be a smoker trying to vindicate what is actually inimical to health.

So stop this propaganda.

SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH.