Thursday, November 15, 2012

The mechanism of nicotine addiction


The mechanism of nicotine addiction

Nicotine enters the body via the skin, digestive and respiratory, and in only 10 seconds into the brain. Once inhaled, nicotine produces several physiological reactions:
The mechanism of nicotine addiction
  - Significant increase in heart rate and blood pressure
  - Constriction of blood vessels
  - Lower temperature upper and lower limb
  - Changing brain waves
  - Muscle relaxation
The mechanism of nicotine addiction
Nicotine stimulates secretion of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in the perception of pleasure. Increased levels of dopamine generates a good mood and attention and concentration increase.
Every time she eats tobacco is released dopamine and nicotinic receptors are on alert. With time, however, decreases receptor sensitivity and normal dopamine level is not enough to cause the feeling of pleasure.
Neurological imbalances related to the continuous stimulation of dopamine receptors nicotine poisoning turn into a chronic problem.
But nicotine addiction is not only physical. Depend on acting and social and behavioral factors: stimulation or relaxation effect caused by nicotine, pleasure gesture, pairing with pleasant moments (first coffee of the day, meals with friends, etc..) There is a strong psychological aspect of addiction, which is that smokers associate smoking with many social activities. All these factors make smoking a hard addiction to overcome.

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