Not all the people who come to the gym are living completely healthy. There are a lot of people who both smoke cigarettes and train. Although the cons of cigarettes are known to all, there are lots of debate about potential effects of nicotine on health and whether it can help with fitness journey.
Together with caffeine, nicotine is considered the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world. It is more potent and more addictive than caffeine.
unfortunately nicotine alone has not been studied enough and it mostly is studied with other compounds(present in tobacco, vape juice and etc). Nicotine is rarely sold as a singular product, rather it’s most often found as an ingredient in tobacco products like cigarettes and some smoking cessation products like nicotine gum and patches. Nicotine is sold as a liquid for use in e-cigarettes.
What is nicotine?
Nicotine (in the form of a cigarette, pipe, or e-cigarette smoke) is mostly absorbed into the body through the lungs as well as the membranes in the mouth and throat. It can also be absorbed in your gastrointestinal tract (via chewing tobacco, nicotine gum, and lozenges) or your skin if you use a nicotine patch. Consuming nicotine is also linked to raised alertness, euphoria, and a sensation of being relaxed.
Nicotine is a chemical that contains nitrogen, which is made by several types of plants, including the tobacco plant. It is also produced synthetically. At lower doses it acts as a stimulant, but at higher doses it can be a sedative.
Nicotine is an alkaloid that is found in certain plants, such as the Nicotiana tabacum plant that is used to produce tobacco products. Nicotiana tabacum comes from the nightshade family. Red peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes are examples of the nightshade family.
The side effects of nicotine can affect the heart, hormones, and gastrointestinal system.
Some studies suggest that nicotine may improve memory and concentration. Chewing or snorting tobacco products usually releases more nicotine into the body than smoking.
Women appear to metabolise nicotine faster than men and some ethnic differences have also been reported. The different ways nicotine can be consumed can also have consequences on how much nicotine is absorbed, or how long it stays in your system.
In tobacco, nicotine makes up between 0.6 and 3.0% of the total dry weight. Within the tobacco plant, nicotine is synthesized in the roots and accumulates in the leaves. This chemical is an oily liquid that is miscible with water in its base form. Nitrogenous forms of nicotine form salts with acids that are soluble in water.
Nicotine addiction and risk
The tobacco plant is indigenous to the Americas and has been used as a medicine and stimulant for at least 2,000 years. Nicotine is certainly a harmful, addictive substance but it is mainly the tar and the other toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke that cause cancer.
Once an individual begins to develop tolerance to nicotine, the affected person needs to use nicotine regularly to maintain normal brain function. If the level of nicotine falls, the smoker may experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that lead to them “topping up” their nicotine levels by smoking again. Because of its highly addictive properties, the American Heart Association has declared the smoking of tobacco products to be one of the hardest addictions to break.
Any form of nicotine is highly addictive, so e-cigarettes and vaporizers remain unsuitable for young people and those who do not already smoke. Liquid nicotine can act as a gateway to cigarettes for those not already regularly taking in nicotine.
The American Heart Association says that nicotine consumed from smoking tobacco is one of the hardest substances to quit. It is considered to be at least as hard as quitting heroin.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that, between the years 2000 and 2004, the average annual productivity losses attributable to smoking were approximately $96.8 billion. Nicotine products are regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). While nicotine is legal, it is illegal to sell or distribute nicotine-containing products to people under 18.
To date, there have been studies showing positive effects of nicotine, including decreased tension and increased thinking, as well as the stimulant’s potential in warding off cognitive decline into Alzheimer’s, delaying the progression of Parkinson’s disease, and as a therapeutic approach for ADHD and schizophrenia but health professionals continue to warn about the dangers of nicotine, especially when used by adolescents whose brains are still developing (until age 25).
Although the number of smokers is decreasing, smoking still accounts for roughly 1 in 7 deaths in the United States (1 in 3 between the ages of 35 and 70). And tobacco — particularly when smoked — is highly addictive. The cigarette sends the nicotine straight to the lungs, where it’s absorbed by the blood, carried to the heart, and pumped up to the brain. One aspect of addiction is withdrawal, and the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal usually begin within hours and consist of craving, irritability, anxiety, restlessness, and increased appetite. The craving may last for months — even years.
Nicotine is addictive because it triggers a reaction in the brain’s reward system, the structures responsible for giving us pleasurable sensations. More specifically, the drug intensifies the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the brain called nucleus accumbens. Cocaine and amphetamines do much the same thing; nicotine is tame in comparison. But experts theorize that it may have an added effect because the drug amplifies the brain’s response to the behaviors associated with smoking. In other words, it’s not just nicotine, but the pleasurable sensations it confers on behaviors associated with smoking that make nicotine so addictive.
Research does suggest that nicotine can increase the risk of cancer due to its damaging effects on DNA, although the risk is much lower than those from smoking cigarettes. A study by the National Cancer Institute found that those who were most addicted to nicotine—smoking a cigarette within five minutes of waking up—had the greatest risk of developing lung cancer.
It’s addictive, which gets people hooked on cigarettes, but the prevailing view has been that it is other substances in tobacco smoke (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamine) that cause DNA damage and therefore cancer. But researchers at Stanford and elsewhere have conducted experiments that show nicotine may stimulate angiogenesis(the formation of new blood vessels). Tumors release angiogenic chemicals that create blood vessels so they have more blood to fuel their growth. A number of cancer treatment drugs are angiogenesis inhibitors, designed to block those chemicals. Moreover, angiogenesis may play a role in the formation of the plaques inside arteries that lead to heart attacks. If nicotine is angiogenic, then it may play a more direct role in causing, or perhaps accelerating, cancer and heart disease than previously thought.
Nicotine can be addictive without cigarette smoke. For example, people become addicted to the nicotine in chewing tobacco and “dip” that is tucked next to the gums. As a rule, though, most drugs of abuse are not as addictive if they are delivered more gradually. In South America, coca leaves are chewed or used to make tea as a mild stimulant. Whatever the harmful effects, they’re a far cry from snorting cocaine. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is chemically more or less the same drug as the injectable amphetamines made in illicit laboratories. But in pill form for treatment of ADHD the effects on the brain are so much milder that it changes the character of the drug, despite the chemical similarities.
How nicotine affects body?
Regardless of how nicotine is absorbed, once this chemical enters the bloodstream, it circulates throughout the body and travels to the brain, where it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Once in the brain, nicotine binds to and activates receptors called cholinergic receptors.
Cholinergic receptors are primarily present in the brain, but can also be found in other areas such as the muscles, heart, adrenal glands and other vital organs. Normally, these receptors are activated by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is produced at both nerve endings in the brain as well as nerves of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
Nicotine does have some negative cardiovascular effects, raising blood pressure and causing arteries to constrict, but it’s debatable how significant they are. Doctors were initially quite concerned about prescribing the nicotine patch and other so-called nicotine replacement therapies for smokers with heart disease. But several studies in the mid-1990s showed that the nicotine replacements didn’t increase the number of heart attacks and strokes in these high-risk patients, so those worries have ebbed. Still, those were short-term studies, so cardiovascular harm from long-term use might be a problem.
Epidemiological studies have hinted at nicotine’s therapeutic potential. During the 1980s, several found that smokers had lower rates of Parkinson’s disease than nonsmokers. Epidemiologists also validated what many mental health practitioners have long noticed: The smoking rate among people with schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorders is far higher than average. It’s widely believed that people with certain mental health problems are self-medicating with cigarettes because the nicotine helps their minds function better.
The nicotine and carbon monoxide from smoking may make your blood sticky and your arteries may become narrow. Narrow arteries reduce the flow of blood to your heart, muscles, and other body organs, making exercise harder. During exercise, blood flow helps boost oxygen supply to your muscles. If your muscles don’t get oxygen fast enough, your body can’t work as well.
You’re able to exercise better when your lung capacity is good and your lungs work well. Smoking hurts your lung capacity. The tar in cigarette smoke coats your lungs and makes the air sacs less elastic. Smoking also produces phlegm that can make your lungs congested. Smoking even a few cigarettes a day can decrease your body’s ability to use oxygen effectively.
The actions of acetylcholine on cholinergic receptors help to maintain healthy respiration, heart function, muscle movement and cognitive functions such as memory. Since nicotine has a similar structure to acetylcholine, it can activate the cholinergic receptors. However, unlike acetylcholine, nicotine enters the brain and disrupts its normal functioning.
Nicotine addiction produces diverse physiological effects common to both men and women because of activation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In addition to these effects, nicotine reduces circulating estrogen levels and leads to early onset of menopause in women. Nicotine’s effect on estrogen metabolism has potential far-reaching consequences because endogenous circulating estrogen helps prevent cerebrovascular diseases in premenopausal women.
Regular smoking leads to a change in both the number of cholinergic receptors and as well as the sensitivity of these receptors to nicotine. As a result, nicotine tolerance can develop.
Nicotine is known to cause decreased appetite, heightened mood, nausea, diarrhea, better memory, and increased alertness.
Calcium absorption and vitamin D levels are lower in smokers, with variable reports on parathyroid hormone. parathyroid hormone stimulates the following functions: Release of calcium by bones into the bloodstream. Absorption of calcium from food by the intestines. Conservation of calcium by the kidneys.
Orexin is a hormone which is highly important in the regulation of wakefulness and support in feeding behaviour. orexin neurons are excited by food-related cues and low energy balance through neuronal connections with the limbic system and through factors that indicate energy balance. In studies, Orexins, a family of hypothalamic hormones which also enhance feeding, were found to increase following nicotine exposure.
Nicotine also results in increased levels of beta-endorphin, which reduces anxiety.
Studies have shown that nicotine appears to improve memory and concentration. It is thought that this is due to an increase in acetylcholine and norepinephrine. Norepinephrine also increases the sensation of wakefulness, or arousal.
This surge of adrenaline stimulates the body. There is an immediate release of glucose, as well as an increase in heart rate, breathing activity, and blood pressure.
Nicotine also makes the pancreas produce less insulin, causing a slight increase in blood sugar or glucose. Smoking is also associated with worsening visceral adiposity independently of changes in BMI, which helps explain the paradox of increased metabolic risk associated with visceral adiposity, despite overall weight loss. However, the incidence of metabolic syndrome may not be increased if weight loss is associated with a net loss of central adiposity.
Smoking acutely increases vasopressin levels. Vasopressin (also called antidiuretic hormone) plays a role in regulating the circadian rhythm — the periods of sleepiness and wakefulness in a 24-hour cycle. Vasopressin also helps maintain the body’s internal temperature, its blood volume, and the proper flow of urine from the kidneys.
In general, Cigarette smoking is also associated with erectile dysfunction and it was estimated that 23% of cases of erectile dysfunction can be attributed to smoking, also Cigarette smoking is associated with decreased fertility in both males and females but The data on the effects of cigarette smoking on testosterone levels in men are conflicting.
A cross-sectional study including a total of 255 men failed to show any significant association between cigarette smoking and several markers of male reproductive hormones, including total, free and bioavailable testosterone, sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), LH and FSH. By contrast, in a cross-sectional population-based study of 3427 men, a research found that men who smoked had significantly higher levels of total and free testosterone, compared with men who never smoked, and that testosterone levels were correlated with the number of cigarettes smoked daily. The conflicting data on the effects of smoking on testosterone may make the evaluation of testosterone levels in smokers difficult.
Indirectly, nicotine causes the release of dopamine in the pleasure and motivation areas of the brain. A similar effect occurs when people take heroin or cocaine. The drug user experiences a pleasurable sensation.
prolactin secretion from the anterior pituitary is primarily inhibited by dopamine. Acute cigarette smoke significantly increased prolactin secretion and the increase in prolactin levels correlated with increased plasma nicotine levels. Because dopamine inhibits prolactin secretion, opioids increase dopamine secretion that results in an inhibition of prolactin secretion. Therefore, these data suggest that smokers may have blunted opioid-mediated dopamine release or dysregulated interactions between dopamine and prolactin.
growth hormone levels are also acutely increased by smoking though the response is less in older subjects. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels, however, show a downward trend with increasing smoking especially in men. As the secretion of IGF-I is largely dependent on GH, long-term smoking may lead to a downregulation of GH release. Smoking probably influences IGF-I concentrations via central hypothalamic pathways. As GH substitution treatment in GH-deficient adults is titrated to achieve normal IGF-I concentrations, the smoking status would have to be taken into account when determining normal IGF-I concentrations.
Cigarette smoking has multiple effects on the thyroid gland. It has both stimulatory as well as inhibitory actions on thyroid function and is also a powerful risk factor for development of thyroid disease. Graves’ disease, Graves’ ophthalmopathy and thyroid hormone abnormalities have all been linked to smoking. Serum TSH levels are lower, whereas T3 and T4 levels are higher, in smokers versus non-smokers and in both active smokers and passive smokers. This suggests that there is a stimulatory effect of cigarette smoke exposure on thyroid hormone release, with resultant suppression of TSH. This may have important clinical relevance when making the already difficult evaluation and management of smokers with subclinical hyperthyroidism. Multiple studies have shown that there is a lower prevalence of thyroid auto-antibodies in smokers compared with nonsmokers and smokers have lower rates of hypothyroidism.
Nicotine in sports
In the sporting world, particularly in team sports, between a third and a half of professional athletes use nicotine. Sportspeople claim that it helps prevent a dry mouth, control body weight and improve concentration and attention.
In some sports, up to half the team uses nicotine in various forms, mostly as smokeless chewing tobacco or nicotine patches and gum. This led the World Anti-Doping Agency to place nicotine on its monitoring programme in 2012, indicating that it could be upgraded to the list of banned substances.
Keen soccer fans may remember media reports last year of Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, after he was pictured in his England jersey, holding an energy drink and pouch of chewing tobacco. This is nothing unusual for America’s major league baseball fans who witness their idols chewing or dipping tobacco.
Smokeless tobacco has been associated with baseball since its inception, and despite being replaced by smoking in the 1950s, returned in the late 1970s. By 2003, the number of major league players regularly using smokeless tobacco was 36 percent.
Ice-hockey is another sport where reports have emerged of 30 to 50 percent of players actively using nicotine. Other professional sports with higher than average (average being the roughly 25 percent worldwide prevalence of smoking tobacco) use of nicotine immediately before or during a game are reported by the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses as American football, bobsleigh, gymnastics, rugby and skiing.
Research into nicotine so far has mostly centred on its pharmacodynamics and smoking cessation. Despite its widespread use among athletes, there has been little research into whether it does actually affect sporting performance, and none into whether it can pose a health risk to this population.