Key takeaways
- Nicotine addiction and smoke chemicals harm the brain.
- Aldehydes and cadmium cause inflammation and long-term issues.
- Immediate effects include memory loss and headaches.
- Long-term smoking increases neurodegenerative disorder risks.
- Structural changes impact 'grey matter' and brain aging.
Nicotine might seem harmless on its own, but trust me, it can turn even the most level-headed person a bit mad because of how addictive it is.
If you’re hooked on cigarettes, it can affect your brain, sending your dopamine levels through the roof with every puff.
Sure, you can wean yourself off nicotine, especially if you’re using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), but that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear from all the other harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke that can wreak havoc on your mental health.
Let’s explore how those chemicals in smoke mess with your brain and the not-so-great effects they can have.
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The Link Between Smoking and Your Brain
Nicotine is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the negative effects of smoking on your body. The other chemicals in cigarettes can seriously harm your brain health.
One study found that being around high levels of aldehydes can lead to oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain.
That exposure can damage the brain’s nerve cells and throw off the balance of important chemicals like dopamine.
Another study showed that exposure to cadmium can mess with essential brain cell functions, cause oxidative stress, and lead to inflammation that might damage your brain over time.
How Do Dangerous Chemicals in Smoking Affect Your Brain?
Immediate Effects on Cognitive Function
When it comes to inhaling cigarette smoke even in a short period, one of the effects you might notice is short-term memory loss.
Nicotine can shorten your attention span and make it harder to write or type, and it can also lead to more headaches.
This is all because of the higher-than-normal activity of neurotransmitters in your brain
On the flip side, if you’re exposed to cigarette smoke for a long time, you could be at a higher risk for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.
Smoking also constricts your blood vessels, which can interfere with blood flow to the brain and lead to damage over time.
Long-term Structural Changes in the Brain
Smoking for years or decades will have an impact on your brain’s cellular composition. A study of over 3,000 smokers suggested that long-term smokers had a significant decrease in brain volume than non-smokers, especially as they became older.
The brain area most impacted by the chemicals in cigarette smoke is ‘grey matter,’ which controls our memories, emotions, and movement. The study illustrates this area to have shrunk much faster than a person not exposed to cigarette smoke.
Risk of Neurological Disorders
As mentioned earlier, if you continue to smoke, you are at a higher risk of having Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. Accelerated brain ageing can also result in becoming much more impulsive and experiencing more severe cases of depression.
If you’re a smoker diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, you also have faster cortical thinning, which can affect your decision-making skills and can lead to permanent memory loss and an increased risk of severe depressive illnesses.
Neurochemical Imbalance and Addiction
Chemicals in cigarette smoke cause your neurotransmitters to go haywire and imbalance enough to cause addiction.
For instance, instantly consuming high levels of nicotine can hijack your dopamine levels, the ‘feel-good’ chemicals stimulated by every hit of a ciggie. Continuously smoking to get that ‘high’ after each inhalation causes your body to become dependent on nicotine and the adverse effects of other chemicals in cigarette smoke.
While neurochemical imbalance and addiction is not exclusive to smoking and takes a longer time to manifest compared to substance abuse and excessive drinking, it’s still a problem that has long-term mental effects that you’ll have to address later on.
Summary
The negative relationship between cigarette smoking and your brain should never be underestimated. In exchange for a short-lived ‘high,’ you’ll endure short-term memory loss and a higher risk of long-term mental illnesses caused by rapid brain ageing due to the chemicals in cigarette smoke.
Still, the best way to keep your body and mind healthy is to stop smoking for good. We recognise the difficulty of permanently stopping smoking, but we can definitely help you.
Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around!
If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to friendly Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.
Link Reference
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6907112/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-28893-6
- https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/managing-the-risk-of-dementia/reduce-your-risk-of-dementia/smoking
- https://www.bpsgos.org/article/S2667-1743(23)00136-2/fulltext
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8115107/
- https://www.mcgill.ca/neuro/channels/news/smoking-thins-vital-part-brain-241649