Tobacco and the Brain

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Tobacco and the Brain

Recent surveys show that 25 % of all American adults smoke despite the fact that tobacco is the No.1 cause of death (430,000 annual) and disease in this country (1). The life of a 30-year older that smokes 15 cigarettes a day is shortened by an average of more than five years (2). Why do people smoke despite the fact that it shortens their life? Why has this practice of smoking tobacco been around for 1000 years? There must be something that the human body or mind gains in spite of the threat of an early death. I realize this craving for nicotine on a personal level because I smoke. Smoker's self-reported motives for smoking include stress reduction and improved circulation (3). That sounds like my reasons. Plus smoking is like a friend that I visit and have a good time with, something that I enjoy being with.

Smoking cigarettes produces a rapid distribution of nicotine throughout the body, and reaching the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation (4). The nicotine causes a release of dopamine, neurotransmitters that carries information across synaptic clefts, in the dopamine circuit. This circuit, known as the brain's pleasure center, is an anatomically small cluster of cells. It has evolved over millions of years and mainly seems to reward activities that increase the likelihood of survival, such as sex and eating. This cluster of cells might be small but it reaches into regions of the brain involved with a variety of tasks (4). . These dopamine-releasing pathways course from the evolutionary older part of the midbrain to the hypothalamus and trigger activity of other cells, that extend from one part of the midbrain to an area in the forebrain known as the nucleus accumbens (2). It also branches out t...

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...reatments further improves smoke cessation success rates (4). Considering the high death rate due to smoking and the difficulty of withdrawing from this deadly addiction, it is not a good sign that America's youth cigarette usage is escalating. Smoking prevalence among adolescents has risen dramatically since 1990, with more than 3,000 additional children and adolescents becoming regular users of tobacco each day (1).

WWW Sources

1)Quick Facts about Nicotine

http://ctri.wisc.edu/sub_dept/quick_facts/

2)Interesting Science

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/home?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

3) Gleitman, H., Fridlun, A., and Reisberg, D. Psychology. Fifth Edition. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. 1999

4)U.S. Government Research Reports ,

http://nida.gov/researchreports/nicotine/

5)MSNBC News Website ,

http://msnbc.msn.com/news/263658.asp

.

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