Nicotine addiction. I am sure that everyone heard about it or had contact with addicted person. Nicotine addiction is one of the biggest problems of modern society. According to the studies nowadays there are about 1.3 billion smokers in the world. According to the scientists is:
1000x more potent than alcohol more than 5 x stronger than cocaine or morphine
What does it mean for us? Well basically is one of the most addictive substances in the world. In other words if you will start smoking then it is over 90% probability that you will be addicted to nicotine.
What exactly nicotine is?
Well the typical definition states that nicotine is alkaloid found in the family of plants called Solanaceae and which acts as a nicotinic acetylcholine agonist.To explain, alkaloid is a natural chemical compound . The are mostly used in medicine (morphine) or as stimulants (caffeine and nicotine). Solanaceae is a family of plants also called nightshade. Solanaceae plants are best known from being rich in alkaloids. Nicotinic acetylcholine agonist is a kind of substance which emulates the acetylcholine (ACh) Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter responsible for the motor functions of our somatic nervous system. In other words it works for us like a kind of stimulant which and makes us arousal. Furthermore nicotine also reacts with many other neurotransmitters in our brain:
First of all nicotine reacts with Dopamine. When we are smoking the nicotine is coming to our lungs. After about 7 seconds it makes contact with our brain. One of the results of such contact is releasing a huge amount of Dopamine (DA). Dopamine released by nicotine is responsible for the feeling of pleasure and for suppressing the appetite. Another neurotransmitters with which nicotine combines are Serotonin (5-HT), Norepinephrine – better known as noradrenaline (NA), Vasopressin (AVP) and Beta-Endorphin. The effects of joining nicotine with Serotonin are e.g suppressed appetite