Smokers Stress can be cut by Smoking

Published on May 22, 2009 4:11 AM

Most of smokers smoke cigarettes only to calm themselves. Before a recent study, researchers were not sure that stress is the main cause of starting smoking.

For to assure researchers scanned the human brain and the found that nicotine does really have a calming effect, something smokers have claimed for years.

In fact, smokers have higher rates of stress than nonsmokers.  But nicotine can calms them, according to a recent research.

The findings support the idea that people with an angry disposition are more sensitive to nicotine's effects and are therefore more likely to become addicted to cigarettes.

To identify regions of the brain that are most reactive to nicotine, they conducted a study of 20 nonsmokers who completed two games with an unreal opponent. They played one game wearing a 3.5-mg nicotine patch, and the other with a matched placebo patch.

At the end of the investigation, the researchers found that participants wearing the nicotine patches had changes in reaction time and retaliation, and they also showed changes in brain metabolism on Positron Emission Tomography.

Those who had a decreased reaction time during the game while receiving nicotine had decreased brain metabolism in the left thalamus.

Reductions in length of retaliation time were associated with increased brain metabolism in cortical and subcortical structures including the right frontal lobe, right anterior cingulated, right uncus, and left parietal lobe.

The findings also suggested that nicotine interferes with cortical and subcortical functioning responsible for processing emotional stimuli and other complex adaptive, motivated behaviors, such as the regulation of emotion.

Researchers also found the role of negative affect, anger, in sensitivity to nicotine, indicating that angry disposition could be a risk factor for smoking initiation and nicotine addiction.