Nicotine Boosts Mood, Brain Dopamine Levels
Just handling, lighting, and drawing on a cigarette can alleviate craving and anxiety in a person addicted to nicotine, NIDA researchers have found. Chronic smokers in a study led by Dr. Arthur Brody at the University of California, Los Angeles, reported relief from these withdrawal symptoms after smoking cigarettes that, unbeknownst to them, contained only trace amounts of nicotine. Another desired effect of smoking, a lift in mood, required fully nicotinized cigarettes, however. Using positron emission tomography on the 62 study participants, the researchers correlated the degree of mood