The paradox of nicotine relaxation and psychological self-medication in smokers

Nicotine acts at the neuro-Muscular junction to stimulate muscles. Paradoxically, smokers report that it relaxes them. Explain.

The fact that nicotine stimulates muscles while smokers report that it relaxes them might seem like a contradiction in terms, but in reality, the correlation makes some sense. "The idea that people smoke cigarettes to help ease the signs and symptoms of stress is known as 'self-medication'. Stress is very common, affecting us when we feel unable to cope with unwelcome pressure. It can cause physical symptoms like headaches or breathlessness as well as making people feel irritable, anxious or low.

These feelings can alter our behavior and feeling stressed often makes people drink alcohol or smoke more than usual. Long-term stress is also related to anxiety and depression" (mentalhealth.org, 2012). Thus there is a psychological expectation on behalf of smokers that their cigarettes will help relieve their stress. Smokers are actually just engaging in a self-fullfilling prophecy: they believe that the cigarettes will relieve their anxiety and thus the cigarettes have this impact, when really the entire dynamic is governed by a psychological construct. There is science to support this, particularly because from a biological standpoint, the opposite of the relief of stress has been shown to be true. "Research into smoking and stress has shown that, instead of helping people to relax, smoking actually increases anxiety and tension. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxation so people smoke in the belief that it reduces stress and anxiety. This feeling of relaxation is temporary and soon gives way to withdrawal symptoms and increased cravings" (mentalhealth.org, 2012). In fact, as some scientists have pointed out, when a smoker withdraws from nicotine, they can experience symptoms which feel like those of stress or anxiety, when actually they're just nicotine withdrawal. So the cigarette addresses the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal which appears to be anxiety or stress. Thus, cigarettes become viewed by the smoker as an aid for nicotine withdrawal.

Psychological factors like these are precisely why so many smokers find it difficult to quit and precisely why these connections with smoking and perceived "stress relief" are so aggravated. "Psychological factors are often one of the reasons that breaking the nicotine addiction is so difficult. For many smokers, the act of smoking has become such a part of their lives that they feel like they have lost a part of themselves when stop smoking. Psychologically, it is normal to mourn the loss of such a familiar habit. It is also common for people who give up smoking to experience one or more of the common stages of grief (denial, bargaining, anger, sadness, guilt, and acceptance) as they learn to change the way they live" (amhc.org). Furthermore, these psychological factors are supported by a strong behavioral aspect where smokers have these ingrained times and places of the day where they are accustomed to smoking and which would make smokers feel out of sorts if they weren't smoking. Thus, stressful situations become breeding grounds for smokers and smokers become so connected to smoking when they feel stressed they simply perpetuate this habit.

Biological Factors of Schizophrenia: Male vs. Female

Scientists have wondered if there's a genetic basis for schizophrenia for decades: the genetic research done can answer question regarding why schizophrenia is so differently experienced between males and females. The research does demonstrate that there is a very specific genetic component to schizophrenia that scientists understand better in years past. In the last half decade technology capable of scanning the full DNA map has uncovered extremely rare genetic variations which occur frequently in schizophrenic that have not been detectable in previous years (medheadlines.com, 2008). "Schizophrenia is one of the most serious mental illnesses with about 1 in 100 people developing the disorder over a lifetime. This illness can begin at any age but commonly manifests itself in the late teens through early to mid-20's. It is prevalent in both sexes and the clinicians are now accepting that outcome of schizophrenia is multi-dimensional across interlinked domains of symptoms severity, social/functional disability, employment and a number of treatment and management variables" (Javed, 2000). Researchers working at the National Institute of Heath, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of Washington in Seattle scanned blood samples from over 100 schizophrenics vs. A control group of 268 samples from people who were not afflicted by the condition. The bulk of their findings were localized to the mutations in the DNA sequence. Given the different biological factors that males vs. females experience and the strongly genetic component of schizophrenia, it's truly no wonder that the condition manifests so differently with these different genders.