Nicotine May Help Depression

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

10 Oct 2006 12:37 PM

Let me just say this first: don't start smoking just because you're feeling blue.

However, researchers at Duke University Medical Center have been studying the effects of nicotine on symptoms of depression. In a recent study, they took non-smoking volunteers with symptoms of depression and asked them to wear a patch. Some had a nicotine patch; others had a drug-free placebo. The participants were given questionnaires over the course of the study. Those who wore a nicotine patch for at least eight days reported a significant decline in depression symptoms.

The folks at Duke University Medical Center want to make it clear that they are NOT suggesting that people with depression start smoking OR wear a nicotine patch. The addictiveness and health risks that come with nicotine and smoking far outweigh any possible benefits nicotine may have on depression. Smoking is a leading cause of death in the United States; if you need help quitting, you can start here.

What the researchers hope is that their studies on nicotine and depression will lead to new treatments for depression. Study leader Joseph McClernon, who is a research professor at Duke University, acknowledged that depression was "a huge public health problem" -- but that smoking wasn't the answer.

Pharmaceutical companies are currently working on developing drugs that are like nicotine -- but with out the addiction. These drugs will hopefully target brain chemical imbalances that have been associated with depression and other neurological disorders. Nicotine fits into particular receptors in your brain that absorb feel-good chemicals and hormones. When the chemicals stay in circulation in your brain longer, you feel better. Certain drugs currently used for treating depression, like Zoloft, work in a similar way -- they block the absorption of certain chemicals (serotonin, in the case of Zoloft) so they stay in action in your brain for a longer period of time.

More about depression.

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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