Nicotine improves our focus and motivation as well as our sense of wellbeing for relatively short periods of time. It does this by its effect on dopamine release and the stimulation of our sympathetic nervous system (flight or fight), while at the same time relaxing our muscles, a difficult trick. This means that activities in which we have to be highly concentrated while at the same time physically relaxed will benefit from nicotine use. There are some considerations.
Less is more, use nicotine in relatively small amounts, within 15 minutes of performance.
Have a nicotine window, that is periods of time where you avoid nicotine, a nicotine fast, in other words.
Delivery mechanism is key, smoking, chewing or snorting tobacco introduces a huge number of toxins along with nicotine. The nicotine makes you want more, the toxins kill; avoid tobacco products.
Nicotine patches are not great unless you are limiting the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Gum, lozenges, and tablets are good ways to get nicotine and control the timing and amount.
Vaping is very efficient at getting nicotine into your system, fast. It has the potential to become addictive as the ‘high’ comes quickly and is very high, relatively short, leading to almost continuous use as you seek to maintain the feeling. Using vaping products with lower concentrations of nicotine and an absence of flavours may go some way to reducing the harms.
Use nicotine selectively for those moments when you must be at your best, or when you need the performance state but are finding it difficult to create.
Simple, inexpensive, effective and sustainable #SI_lo_ES, yes it is.
Finally, smoking kills. For the many of you who do smoke I am sure this is not news and while the neuroscience of nicotine addiction is clear I also think that trauma is the gateway to substance abuse. Trauma is extraordinarily difficult to deal with. If you smoke, be aware that one of the mechanisms for harm in smoking is the destruction of vitamin C in the lungs and the lowering of vitamin C levels throughout the body. Smoking actually discourages the uptake of vitamin C! Vitamin C is a powerful immune system booster, take one gram immediately after each cigarette.
