Nicotine’s Effects on the Brain & Body & How to Quit Smoking or Vaping

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are discussing nicotine. Nicotine is one of the most commonly consumed substances on the entire planet. There are literally billions of people that ingest nicotine on a daily basis. Most of those people consume nicotine via smoking and in particular smoking tobacco. Tobacco contains nicotine and it contains a bunch of other things as well, which we will talk about. And the burning of tobacco liberates nicotine and makes it accessible to the various cells and tissues of the body. But of course, there are other sources of nicotine as well. Some people consume nicotine through dip, that is placing tobacco on the inside of the lip or in the cheek. Some people consume nicotine via snuff, which is literally the shoving of tobacco leaves up the nostrils and allowing the tobacco to access the nervous system and other areas of the body by permeating into the mucosal membranes, as is the lining, the soft lining of the nasal passages. And of course, there are nicotine patches, nicotine gum, there's nicotine in pill form, there are toothpicks dipped in nicotine, et cetera. Today, we are going to separate our discussion of nicotine from a discussion of smoking and vaping and the other forms of delivery for nicotine. We will be talking about smoking and vaping and other routes of nicotine administration, both for sake of highlighting their detriments to health and believe it or not, in certain cases, keep in mind, very specific certain cases, the possible health benefits of delivering nicotine through specific modalities. Turns out those modalities do not include smoking cigarettes or vaping. And we are going to pay particular attention to vaping today because vaping use is on the rise, in particular in young people. And vaping use and the fact that most tobacco that's consumed through vaping includes quite amount of nicotine has created a scenario where nicotine, because of its ability to change certain chemicals in the brain can actually lead to addiction for a number of other substances related to vaping and vaping associated behaviors. If all of that seems like a lot to get your arms and your mind around right here at the outset, don't worry, I'll walk you through this regardless of whether or not you have a background in biology or not. I promise that you'll come through at the end of this episode with a deep understanding of how nicotine works in the brain and body, some of its benefits, some of its potential drawbacks and you'll have clear optics as to why smoking and vaping and other forms of nicotine delivery have the effects that they do on your biology and psychology. Before we go any further, I just want to highlight a key takeaway from a previous episode, which is our episode on focus and in fact was a tool kit for focus. So during the toolkit for focus episode, we talked about a large number of behavioral pharmacologic and other interventions that you can use to increase your level of concentration and focus for whatever purpose, cognitive endeavors, learning languages, focusing in school on work, et cetera, or physical pursuits. Now, one of the key takeaways is that there are really two key protocols that I believe everyone should understand and know about and why they work because they are so effective and also because they dovetail nicely with some of the information that we're going to talk about today, which will explain why nicotine is so effective in increasing focus. These two protocols are as follows. Data based on studies done in Wendy Suzuki's lab at New York University. And of course, Wendy was a guest on this podcast, so you can check out that episode if you like. But studies done in her laboratory point to the fact that a daily, very brief, in fact, only 13 minute meditation can vastly increase focus and focusability, not just immediately after the meditation practice, but at all other times as well. So again, this is a meditation practice done daily for just 13 minutes. It's a very simple meditation practice where one sits or lies down, closes your eyes. And directs your attention to a place just between your two eyes and right above it. So on your forehead, but just inside of that. And please understand that your brain does not have sensory receptors. So unlike focusing on your fingertips and the sensations there, if you focus on your brain, you can't actually sense anything in your brain except your thoughts. So the idea then is that you continually bring your focus back to that location, just about an inch behind your forehead over and over again. And it's the refocusing of your attention to that location after it drifts that succeeds in increasing your focus ability, again, not just during the meditation and afterward, but at other times as well. So this 13 minute a day meditation is exceedingly simple and exceedingly effective. It should be performed every day, but if you miss a day, just go back to doing it, don't despair too much. And you will see these positive effects, save the data. Also increase effects on mood and other positive aspects of mental health and performance. So that's the first tool in protocol. The second tool in protocol relates to the general, what I called arrow model of focus. This was a model that I created in order to simplify the vast amounts of data on focus and concentration and how they are created by the various chemical systems within your brain. We're going to hear a lot about these chemical systems again today in the context of nicotine. And they are as follows. You can think about focus on any goal or any endeavor as an arrow. So just imagine an arrow, which has an arrow head and a shaft, and we'll add a third component to it in a moment. The head of the arrow, meaning the direction of your focus, is largely set by acetylcholine, which is a chemical in the brain. The shaft of the arrow is set by a chemical called adrenaline, also called epinephrine. Those are the same thing. In the brain, typically, it's referred to as epinephrine. And in the body, it's more commonly referred to as adrenaline, but those are the same neurochemical. Epinephrine slash adrenaline represents the shaft of the arrow, and it's providing the energy for which to focus. And then we can put behind that arrow a little propeller or a motor, if you like. And the propeller or motor in the context of this neurochemistry model is dopamine, which provides ongoing motivation. It pushes that arrow forward continually as you strive to focus on a particular thing. This particular arrow model, that is your ability to increase your focus, can be enhanced, therefore, by increasing acetylcholine, epinephrine and dopamine simultaneously. And there are a lot of different ways to do that, but one of the more effective ways to do that via supplement protocols is so-called alpha GPC. Alpha GPC taken in 300 milligram form, 10 to 30 minutes before a bout of cognitive work or a bout of physical work will increase your focus by way of increasing acetylcholine and to some extent, increasing epinephrine as well. The dopamine increase will have to be achieved. Either through cognitive processing, that is telling yourself you're doing a good job in moving forward because thoughts really do impact your levels of dopamine or some other sort of pro dopamine or dopamine increasing protocol also discussed in the toolkit for focus and our episode on dopamine for motivation and drive. So the key thing here to understand is that the 13 minute a day meditation is a very effective way to increase focus capacity. And then in the short term, if you want to provide a boost now and again to focus 300 milligrams of alpha GPC can be very effective. There are various sources for that. Then we'll link to one of them in the show note captions. By no means am I saying that you need to take alpha GPC. A number of people will certainly opt not to. And a number of people might be saying, well, I've heard that alpha GPC can increase focus by way of increasing acetylcholine and norepinephrine or epinephrine, but it can also increase TMAO, which is a kind of a negative marker of cardiac health and cardiovascular health. For that reason, I and many others will take 600 milligrams of a garlic capsule, which can offset that TMAO increase. It remains uncertain as to how much alpha GPC one needs to take before increasing TMAO levels to a point where it's of concern that you would even need to take the garlic capsule. But I just mention it in any case because it's a pretty simple fix. Garlic has other health benefits too, of course. And for most people, 300 milligrams of alpha GPC taken every once in a while. I certainly don't encourage people to take alpha GPC every time they want to focus. I always emphasize behavioral tools first, then focusing on nutritional tools. And on occasion, using supplement-based tools to encourage increased levels of focus. And then of course, there are a number of different prescription compounds that if you're working with a board-certified physician, they could prescribe you if you need additional tools for focus, things like Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil, Armodafinil, Vyvanse, etc. For many people are going to be important and maybe even necessary for people with ADHD, etc. But that's a category into itself. And as I always say, I'm not a physician. So I don't prescribe anything. I'm a professor. So I profess many things. And today I just want to pass along or redirect your attention to that episode on focus and highlight those two tools, the 13 minute a day meditation and 300 milligram alpha GPC for increasing focus capacity and for acutely, that is temporarily giving an additional boost for about a focus. And of course, if you choose not to use those protocols, that's perfectly fine too. There's certainly no obligation. They are simply available to you should you choose to try them. And if nothing else, you now have in mind the neurochemistry of acetylcholine, epinephrine slash adrenaline and dopamine. And that will really set the stage for understanding just how effective and why nicotine is so effective at increasing focus, motivation, and even as you'll soon hear, working memory and cognitive capacity. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Element. Element is an electrolyte drink with everything you need and nothing you don't. That means plenty of salt, magnesium and potassium, the so-called electrolytes and no sugar. Now, salt, magnesium and potassium are critical to the function of all the cells in your body, in particular to the function of your nerve cells, also called neurons. In fact, in order for your neurons to function properly, all three electrolytes need to be present in the proper ratios. And we now know that even slight reductions in electrolyte concentrations or dehydration of the body can lead to deficits in cognitive and physical performance. Element contains a science-backed electrolyte ratio of 1000 milligrams, that's one gram of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium and 60 milligrams of magnesium. I typically drink Element first thing in the morning when I wake up in order to hydrate my body and make sure I have enough electrolytes. And while I do any kind of physical training and after physical training as well, especially if I've been sweating a lot, if you'd like to try Element, you can go to Drink Element, that's lmnt.com/huberman to claim a free Element sample pack with your purchase. Again, that's drinklmnt.com/huberman.