Analysis of the Effect of Nicotine on the Quality of Human Labor - Essay Example

Student’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Class] The effects of nicotine on human performance The name Nicotine has originated from Nicotiana tabacum, which is a tobacco plant. When further research is conducted, it is revealed that Nicotiana tabacum is named after Jean Nicot who was the French Ambassador in Portugal. The tobacco connection with the French Ambassador arises since he not only tobacco and seeds to Brazil from Paris in 1560 but also promoted their medicinal use. Two German chemists, Posselt and Reimann, were the first in isolating the chemical in the form of nicotine from tobacco plants- in the year 1828. Melsens explained the chemical empirical formula of nicotine in 1843, and A. Pickett and Crepieux first synthesized it in 1893 (Lorist, 1997). Nicotine has a complex structure and it is a hygroscopic, oily liquid. In its basic form, nicotine is very miscible with water. It permeates easily and can be treated easily with many acids to form salt structures and residues. Research data has been known to state that free base nicotine can be burnt at a temprature that is actually below the mixtures boiling point. The vapours collected form tehse reactions may further be seen to combust at a temperature of 308K. This states that when nicotine products are smoked, nicotine is burnt instantly due to its comparatively low combusting point. However, enough manages to creep inside a man's body to provide the desired effects (Lorist, 1997). Nicotine alters the mood of the consumer and this is because of its different effects. Nicotine stimulates the human system by triggering a release of glucose from the Kidney resulting in setting off adrenaline from the adrenal medulla system. Hence, it produces feelings of relaxation, calmness and eventually enhances alertness. Nicotine is also stated to be responsible in producing a light euphoric state. All of these factors combined in the human body, smokers develop a tendency to lose weight through a higher metabolism rate as compared to non-smokers. Nicotine actually stimulates the mouth without food, and one's appetite is curbed due to the taste of tobacco (Clementi, 2000). As a person smokes a cigarette, blood carrying nicotine passes from the lungs to the brain within seven seconds. Furthermore, Nicotine forcefully triggers the release of other different chemical messengers in the human system in the forms of acetylcholine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, vasopressin, arginine, dopamine and beta-endorphin. As the levels of norepinephrine increase in the human body, arousal is also seen to heighten within the system (Clementi, 2000). However, in contrast to an increase in arousal, Nicotine limits or decreases the level of anxiety that is experienced in the human body through the increased presence of the beta-endropine. An average of 0.1 to 2.8 milligrams of nicotine is present in mist of the brands of the cigarettes. Many studies may have found that the smokers use cigarettes in order to achieve a stimulating effect in their system and this is caused by the small drags of cigarettes that are inhaled. These small puffs of cigarettes lead to a lower time spanned intake of the chemical and lowers the presence of nicotine in the blood of the smokers. Thus, nerve transmission is stimulated this way (Davies, 2000). Similarly, they take deep puffs when they wish to relax. When cigarettes are inhaled deeply and for a longer constant time, they result in producing a relatively higher presence of nicotine in the blood of the human body. This results in the decrease in the amount of nerve impulses that pass through a point in the blood vessel and therefore provide a sedating effect to the smoker. Low doses of Nicotine accelerate the actions of norepinephrine and depamine in the brain. As the levels of Nicotine increase in a given time span in the human body it directly increases the effect of serotonin and opiate in the human system. This leads to a soothing affect to the person. As the intake of nicotine increases in the human body, it eventually leads to a higher sedative effect in the human system and in increasing the intake of Nicotine more- it may result in an affect that is comparable to a pain killer or a sedative (Davies, 2000). The fact is put forth by modern research that nicotine produces a number of effects by acting on the brain. It is very easy for a person to become addicted to nicotine. This addiction in turn could be very rewarding for the consumer pathways, meaning the circuitry within the brain that controls feelings of pleasure and euphoria (Davies, 2000). There are some key neurotransmitters that are actively implicated in the brain. Dopamine is one of them. Research in this field have stated that the nicotine level in terms of the reward circuits in the human body are intensely evolved to eventually turn these stimulating effects as a norm and may turn the usage of Nicotine products into an addiction (Esgate & Groome, 2004). As a matter of fact, many research studies have unfolded nicotine as being more addictive compared to heroine and cocaine, albeit chronic treatment has a reverse action on reward thresholds. Nicotine may be compared to other drugs that are addictive in nature, and may eventually lead to down-regulation of the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that act as receptors to stimulation. This happens as the increase in the usage of Nicotine increases in relation with time and the human brain attempts to cover up for the artificial stimulation that is created by the use of nicotine. In addition to that, the sensitivity of nicotine acetylcholine receptors diminishes (Clementi, 2000). Hence, the brain in turn, upregulates the number of receptors to make up for this compensatory mechanism. It convolutes its regulatory functions with compensatory mechanisms meant to thwart other compensatory mechanisms. The result of all these activities is a steep rise in the reward pathway sensitivity. This effect of Nicotine may also be compared to many other drugs of abuse such as Cocaine and heroine- as these also lower the reward pathway sensitivity. This neuronal brain alteration endures for months after administration ceases (Clementi, 2000). The rise in reward pathway sensitivity contributes to a mild nicotine withdrawal as opposed to lessened use of ethanol or heroine. The affects of Nicotine are however not just limited to human beings. Nicotine has been found to be reason of ifluincing dependence on itself in animals as well. This was be drawn form the studies of mice in the recent years, that when nicotine was administered in them, they showed the same patterns and symptoms of the withdraw affects that were studied in the human system. (Lorist, 1997). Further research in the effects of Nicotine on mice has shown that when mice in the adolescent age are subjected to the intake of nicotine, it deteriorates the growth in the dopamine system as it had been earlier seen in the human system. These studies combined may show that the risk of substance abuse may steeply rise in the age of adulthood. Moreover, the diverse data has been collected, to support these theories, form vendors of pharmaceutical products. This data has been closely narrated through these vendors in relation to the customers and users of nicotine gum and/or patches that may result in the same level of addiction as cigarettes (Esgate & Groome, 2004). There have been other studies which state that as the adolescent mice are subjected to the exposure of nicotine, the dopamine system’s growth was boted to be obstructed. As a result, it may be linked to the adversities of nicotine abuse in adulthood. Nicotine has string affects on the arteries that carry blood in the human system. The stimulating effect of Nicotine on the body is achieved as the heart rate eventually being increased to twenty beats per minute with the consumption of just one cigarette. This increase in the heart rate leads to an increase in blood pressure in the human body and leads to the arteries being Vasoconstricted- which makes it very difficult for the heart to maintain and control the natural flow of blood through these constricted arteries. Eventually, these dire effects make the human system release fats and cholesterol, that are there as reserves, into the blood- making the human body prone to more diseases and illnesses (Esgate & Groome, 2004). Nicotine increases the risk of blood clots significantly. Blood flow is lessened or halted, and tissue loses its source of oxygen and nutrients and dies in minutes. Peripheral circulation, arteries going to the extremities, are also highly susceptible to the vasoconstrictor effects of nicotine as well as the increased risk of clots and clogging. The primary therapeutic use of nicotine is in curing nicotine dependence in order to eliminate smoking with its risks to health. Controlled levels of nicotine are given to patients through gums, dermal patches, lozenges, or nasal sprays in en effort to wean them off their addiction (Esgate & Groome, 2004). Interestingly, smoking has been associated with deriving therapeutic value in some patients. These are often termed as ``Smoker's Paradoxes''. The actual effects and working of the nicotine on the human body may not have been that clear in detail. However, many studies have pointed out that Nicotine on its own may not be that harmful to the human system. It is the intake of Tar and other harmful chemicals apart form Nicotine that do most of the damage and unnatural reactions in the human body. Nicotine patches and gums, may be found to be beneficial in terms of providing the relaxing and soothing effects along with reducing anxiety in the human body. Nicotine, on its own when administered in a human system may not be responsible for the major negativities that are associated with cigarette smoking (Orleans, 1993). Many recent advances in research have discussed the possibility that smokers may actually have to be less receptive to ongoing revascularization after percutaneous coronary intervention. Many researchers have pointed out that the people who smoke cigarettes may be at a lower risk of experiencing ulcerative colitis – whose basis may be examined on the basis of the dose that is administered in smokers. Furthermore, quitting smoking will lead to this effect being lost in the human system. Cigarette smoking has also been linked as the root cause of breast cancer (Kaposi’s sarcoma) in women and especially in those who have the BRCA gene not dormant in their gene structure. Furthermore, cigarette smoking also may cause asthma and atopic disorders that narrate closely to the presence of preeclampsia and other allergies in the Human system. The effects of cigarette smoking has been linked in relation to nicotine, which has been known to have many vasoconstrictive effects (Orleans, 1993). Cigarette smoking in terms of the effects of nicotine on the human body has also been narrated with the presence of neurological diseases in human beings. Many studies have shown that non-smokers have a much higher risk of experiencing Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer as compared to the cigarette smokers. Furthermore, these studies on comparison between smokers and non-smokers have stated that nicotine may actually be beneficial- especially to adults, in controlling the effects of Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. These results have been reviewed under the findings that the common areas in the human system that are responsible for triggering seizures in epilepsy are also the same where the triggers of nicotine are processed in the brain (Davies, 2003). Some cigarette smokers are of the view and report that smoking helps them to think and to concentrate. These insights have been examined in the laboratory using several different tasks. Unfortunately, this research literature has methodological limitations. It so happens, that most of published studies compare smokers smoking with smokers and not smoking. Few studies have taken up research on non smokers not smoking in a sample experiment (Davies, 2000). When the smokers smoking perform better than smokers not smoking, it is impossible if smoking actually improved performance. If shunning smoking affected performance or both. More importantly, many studies allowing smoking and evaluating performance did not measure nicotine levels in the subjects. Therefore, it cannot be directly inferred whether nicotine has really an influence on performance. Also, in many studies the role of nicotine is only inferred but not directly assessed (Davies, 2000). Many smokers who may want to quit smoking may face deprivation affects such as being touchy, easily irritable, jitters, dry mouth and a relatively faster heart beat. Furthermore, a longer time period in which smokers are not given a dose of nicotine may result in putting them in depression and insomnia. However, as compared to the affects of Alcohol, Nicotine does not make the mortar skills of its users to alter in any visible way. Nicotine use may not influence the ability of people to function as non-smokers but the affects of leaving cigarettes can hinder the functions of human performance in life. Works Cited: Clementi, F. (2000). Neuronal Nicotinic Receptors. Springer. Davies, R. (2000). Human Performance: Cognition, Stress, and Individual Differences. Psychology Press. Esgate, A. & Groome, D. (2004). An Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology. Psychology Press. Lorist, M. (1997). Nicotine, Caffeine and Social Drinking: Behaviour and Brain Function. Routledge. Orleans, T. (1993). Nicotine Addiction: Principles and Management. Oxford University Press. Read More