How does nicotine affect mental health. What is the relationship between smoking and depression. Can quitting smoking improve mental wellbeing. How does vaping impact anxiety and mood disorders. What are effective strategies for smoking cessation to benefit mental health.

The Complex Relationship Between Nicotine and Mental Health

The connection between nicotine use and mental health is multifaceted and often misunderstood. While many smokers believe that cigarettes help alleviate stress and anxiety, research suggests a more complicated reality. Understanding this relationship is crucial for those seeking to improve both their physical and mental wellbeing.

Does Nicotine Cause Depression?

While nicotine itself does not directly cause depression, there is a strong correlation between smoking and depressive symptoms. Studies have shown that smokers are more likely to develop depression over time compared to non-smokers. This association may be due to several factors:

• Nicotine’s effect on brain chemistry
• The cycle of withdrawal and relief experienced by smokers
• Potential genetic factors that predispose individuals to both smoking and depression

Is smoking a coping mechanism for depression? Many individuals with depression may turn to smoking as a form of self-medication. However, this can create a harmful cycle, as smoking may exacerbate depressive symptoms in the long term.

The Paradox of Smoking and Stress Relief

One of the most common misconceptions about smoking is its perceived ability to relieve stress. In reality, smoking can increase anxiety and tension. This paradox can be explained by understanding the cycle of nicotine addiction:

1. Nicotine withdrawal causes irritability and anxiety
2. Smoking a cigarette temporarily relieves these symptoms
3. The relief is associated with the act of smoking
4. This reinforces the belief that smoking reduces stress

How does smoking actually affect stress levels? While it may provide temporary relief, smoking ultimately contributes to increased stress and anxiety. Breaking this cycle through smoking cessation can lead to improved mental health outcomes.

Mental Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking

Quitting smoking can have profound positive effects on mental health. Research has consistently shown that individuals who successfully quit smoking experience:

• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Improved mood and quality of life
• Decreased stress levels
• Potential reduction in the dosage of psychiatric medications

Can quitting smoking be as effective as antidepressants? Some studies suggest that the beneficial effects of smoking cessation on symptoms of anxiety and depression can be comparable to those achieved with antidepressant medications. This underscores the importance of considering smoking cessation as part of a comprehensive mental health treatment plan.

The Impact of Smoking on Mental Health Conditions

Individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of smoking. Research has shown that people with mental health disorders:

• Are more likely to smoke than the general population
• Tend to smoke more heavily
• Have a significantly reduced life expectancy, partly due to smoking-related illnesses
• May require higher doses of certain psychiatric medications due to smoking’s interference with drug metabolism

How does smoking affect the treatment of mental health disorders? Smoking can interfere with the effectiveness of certain psychiatric medications, requiring higher doses and potentially increasing side effects. Quitting smoking can lead to more effective treatment and improved overall mental health outcomes.

Strategies for Successful Smoking Cessation

Quitting smoking can be challenging, especially for those with mental health concerns. However, there are several evidence-based strategies that can increase the likelihood of success:

1. Seek support from local stop smoking services
2. Utilize nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or e-cigarettes as cessation aids
3. Consult with healthcare professionals for personalized advice
4. Combine behavioral therapy with pharmacological interventions
5. Develop coping mechanisms for managing stress and cravings

What role do healthcare providers play in smoking cessation for individuals with mental health conditions? Healthcare providers can offer crucial support by tailoring cessation strategies to individual needs, monitoring medication dosages, and providing ongoing encouragement throughout the quitting process.

The Rise of Vaping and Its Impact on Mental Health

As traditional smoking rates decline, the use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices has increased, particularly among young people. This shift raises new concerns about the potential mental health impacts of nicotine delivery through these alternative methods.

Vaping and Depression: Emerging Research

Recent studies have begun to shed light on the relationship between vaping and mental health outcomes. A 2019 JAMA study involving nearly 30,000 participants found that:

• Current e-cigarette users had twice the odds of receiving a depression diagnosis compared to never-users
• Frequent vapers had even higher odds (2.4 times) of depression diagnosis
• Both current and former e-cigarette users reported more days of poor mental health compared to never-users

Why might vaping be linked to increased rates of depression? While causation has not been established, researchers speculate that factors such as nicotine’s effect on brain chemistry and the presence of trace metals in vape liquids may contribute to this association.

Vaping and Anxiety: A Complex Relationship

The relationship between vaping and anxiety is similarly complex. While some users report that vaping helps manage anxiety symptoms, research suggests that nicotine use may actually exacerbate anxiety in the long term. Factors to consider include:

• The immediate calming effect of nicotine
• The anxiety-inducing effects of nicotine withdrawal
• The potential for increased social anxiety related to vaping behaviors
• The impact of nicotine on stress response systems in the brain

How does the method of nicotine delivery (vaping vs. smoking) affect mental health outcomes? While more research is needed, preliminary evidence suggests that the mental health impacts of vaping may be similar to those of traditional smoking, highlighting the need for caution and further study.

Addressing Mental Health in Smoking Cessation Programs

Given the strong links between smoking, nicotine use, and mental health, it is crucial that smoking cessation programs address both physical and psychological aspects of addiction. Effective approaches may include:

1. Integrating mental health screening into smoking cessation programs
2. Providing counseling and support for underlying mental health issues
3. Offering stress management techniques as part of cessation strategies
4. Educating individuals about the potential mental health benefits of quitting
5. Tailoring interventions to address the unique challenges faced by those with mental health conditions

How can healthcare systems better support individuals with co-occurring mental health and nicotine addiction issues? A holistic approach that addresses both mental health and smoking cessation simultaneously may lead to better outcomes and improved overall wellbeing.

The Future of Nicotine Research and Mental Health

As our understanding of the complex relationship between nicotine and mental health continues to evolve, several key areas of research are emerging:

• Long-term studies on the mental health impacts of e-cigarette use
• Investigation of potential biological mechanisms linking nicotine to depression and anxiety
• Development of targeted interventions for individuals with co-occurring mental health and nicotine addiction issues
• Exploration of the role of genetics in nicotine addiction and mental health susceptibility
• Evaluation of novel smoking cessation strategies that prioritize mental health outcomes

What promising new approaches are being developed to address nicotine addiction and mental health? Emerging technologies, such as digital therapeutics and personalized medicine approaches, may offer new avenues for tackling these interconnected issues.

In conclusion, the relationship between nicotine use and mental health is complex and multifaceted. While smoking and vaping may provide temporary relief from stress and anxiety, the long-term effects on mental health can be detrimental. Quitting smoking or vaping can lead to significant improvements in mental wellbeing, and integrating mental health support into smoking cessation programs is crucial for achieving optimal outcomes. As research in this field continues to advance, a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between nicotine and mental health will emerge, paving the way for more effective interventions and support strategies.

Stopping smoking for your mental health

We all know that quitting smoking improves physical health.

But it’s also proven to boost your mental health and wellbeing: it can improve mood and help relieve stress, anxiety and depression.

Smoking, anxiety and mood

Most smokers say they want to stop, but some continue because smoking seems to relieve stress and anxiety.

It’s a common belief that smoking helps you relax. But smoking actually increases anxiety and tension.

Smokers are also more likely than non-smokers to develop depression over time.

Why it feels like smoking helps us relax

Smoking cigarettes interferes with certain chemicals in the brain.

When smokers haven’t had a cigarette for a while, the craving for another one makes them feel irritable and anxious.

These feelings can be temporarily relieved when they light up a cigarette. So smokers associate the improved mood with smoking.

In fact, it’s the effects of smoking itself that’s likely to have caused the anxiety in the first place.

Cutting out smoking does improve mood and reduces anxiety.

The mental health benefits of quitting smoking

When people stop smoking, studies show:

• anxiety, depression and stress levels are lower
• quality of life and positive mood improve
• the dosage of some medicines used to treat mental health problems can be reduced

Smokers with mental health problems

People with mental health problems, including anxiety, depression or schizophrenia:

• are much more likely to smoke than the general population
• tend to smoke more heavily
• die on average 10 to 20 years earlier than those who don’t experience mental health problems – smoking plays a major role in this difference in life expectancy
• need higher doses of some antipsychotic medicines and antidepressants because smoking interferes with the way these medicines work

Stopping smoking can be as effective as antidepressants

People with mental health problems are likely to feel much calmer and more positive, and have a better quality of life, after giving up smoking.

Evidence suggests the beneficial effect of stopping smoking on symptoms of anxiety and depression can equal that of taking antidepressants.

Tips to stop smoking

If you want to stop smoking, contact your local stop smoking service, which provides the best chance of stopping completely and forever.

Here are some ways to boost your chances of stopping smoking for good.

• Use stop smoking treatments like nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or e-cigarettes.
• See an NHS stop smoking expert. It’s free and will increase your chances of quitting for good. You can talk about which stop smoking aids will work best for you, and they can provide additional support such as advice on coping with cravings.
• If you’re not as successful as you want to be, you’ll still have learnt something to help you next time. The more comfortable you are using the support available, the better prepared you’ll be for stopping completely next time.
• If you take antipsychotic medicines or antidepressants, it’s important you talk to your GP or psychiatrist before you stop smoking – the dosage of these medicines may need to be monitored and the amount you need to take could be reduced.

Page last reviewed: 1 March 2021

Next review due: 1 March 2024

3 ways vaping affects mental health

News Article

Topic

• Targeted Communities

Subtopic

• Mental Health

While it is well known that nicotine harms developing brains, including by making young people more susceptible to addiction, lesser known are the worrying connections between nicotine and mental health.

Though nicotine has not been found to directly cause mental health conditions, peer-reviewed studies reveal troubling links between vaping, nicotine, and worsening symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as higher odds of having a depression diagnosis. Here are three ways vaping affects mental health.

Current e-cigarette users have double the odds of having a diagnosis of depression compared to those who have never vaped

Can vaping cause depression and anxiety?

According to a 2019 JAMA study of nearly 30,000 current e-cigarette users above age 18, frequent vaping is tied to even higher odds – 2.4X – of having a diagnosis of depression compared to never users.

The study also showed current e-cigarette users had 1.67X higher odds and former e-cigarette users had 1.52X higher odds of reporting at least one day of poor mental health in the past month compared to never users who reported no days of poor mental health. Researchers also believe that trace metals in vape liquid may play a role in the potential link between vaping and depression.

Vaping can worsen symptoms of depression

Does vaping make you depressed?

Based on the results of a 2017 study of nearly 2,500 ninth graders who had never previously used e-cigarettes or combustible tobacco in Los Angeles, those who used e-cigarettes at a higher frequency were associated with higher depressive symptoms. This also included feeling sad or having crying spells – a year later.

Nicotine use is significantly associated with higher levels of conditions like ADHD

Does vaping cause ADHD?

A 2019 study of U.S. college students found that vaping is significantly associated with higher levels of ADHD symptoms, and nicotine dependence was correlated with greater anxiety symptoms.

It is critical to both prevent teens and young adults from vaping or smoking and to help those who are addicted to quit as soon as possible. Not only does quitting break the addiction to nicotine and reduce health-related risks associated with tobacco use, it can also improve mental health. A 2014 meta-analysis showed quitting smoking is linked with lower levels of anxiety, depression and stress as well as improved positive mood and quality of life compared with continuing to smoke. This is Quitting^® is a free and anonymous quit resource from Truth Initiative that has helped more than 350,000 on their journey to quit vaping.

For free help with quitting vaping, text DITCHVAPE to 88709.

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Scientists have found out how smoking and depression are connected

Smoking can lead to depression, Israeli scientists say. Smokers are much more likely to experience depressive symptoms, and quitting the habit improves mental health.

Smoking is not only harmful to physical health, but is also associated with mental disorders, researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found out. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE .

Smoking, including passive smoking, is one of the main risk factors for morbidity and mortality worldwide, the authors note. Almost 90% of smokers acquire this habit before adulthood, 98% before the age of 26.

Previous studies have shown that people with depression and other mental disorders are more likely to start smoking than mentally healthy people. In particular, many studies have noted that smokers have a much lower quality of life and more pronounced symptoms of anxiety and depression.

More recent data have shown that there may be an inverse relationship – smoking becomes a predisposing factor for mental problems, and quitting it is associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms.

Together with colleagues from Serbia, the authors of the work interviewed more than 2,000 students of Serbian universities.

As it turned out, smoking students were several times more likely to suffer from depression than their non-smoking peers.

In particular, at the University of Pristina, depression was observed in 14% of smoking students and only in 4% of non-smokers, and in the University of Belgrade – in 19% smokers and 11% non-smokers. Women were more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms.

In addition, regardless of economic or social status, students who smoke were also more likely to complain of depression and had lower mental health scores (energy, social functioning) than non-smokers.

“Our study confirms existing evidence that smoking and depression are closely linked,” says Prof. Hagai Levin. “It’s too early to say that smoking causes depression. But tobacco seems to have a negative effect on our mental health.”

The Israeli government is actively cracking down on smoking – as of 2020, cigarettes are banned from display in stores, warning labels on packs are increased to 65% of the pack size, and all tobacco products and e-cigarettes must be sold in the same packaging, without logos or display manufacturer’s brand.

Levin would like such measures to take into account the impact of smoking on mental health.

“I encourage universities to advocate for the health of their students by creating cigarette-free campuses where not only is smoking banned, but tobacco advertising is also banned,” he says. “Combined with policies to prevent, screen and treat mental illness, these steps will go a long way towards combating the harmful effects of smoking on our physical and mental health.”

Researchers suggest that the whole thing is the effect of nicotine on the activity of neurotransmitters.

In addition, other chemicals in cigarette smoke indirectly stimulate the release of dopamine associated with feelings of satisfaction, which ultimately leads to mood swings.

Students generally have more mental health problems than non-degree peers, researchers note. This is probably due to the stress caused by the strict academic requirements. The authors of the work suggest that depression can push them to smoke, and then, in turn, only aggravate their condition. The researchers hope that quitting smoking will allow students to improve their mental health, but this remains to be tested.

Previously, British geneticists drew attention to the fact that

smoking can provoke not only depression, but also schizophrenia.

Since the prevalence of smoking among people with depression and schizophrenia is generally higher than among the rest of the population, they decided to find out whether the diseases predispose a person to smoking or vice versa.

After analyzing the genomes of almost half a million Britons and comparing them with data on their diseases and lifestyle, they found that a genetic predisposition to depression is associated with an increased likelihood that a person will start smoking. However, no such association was found for schizophrenia. At the same time, smokers, even without a genetic predisposition, were more prone to depression and schizophrenia.

Geneticists have discovered another effect of smoking.

It turns out it causes depression and schizophrenia – Meduza

Simone Scarano / Unsplash

In developed countries, people with schizophrenia and clinical depression are twice as likely to smoke as among people in these countries as a whole. For a long time, scientists could not find an unambiguous explanation for this fact. Perhaps people with mental illness are more likely to smoke because of the increased stress they experience, or perhaps smoking, schizophrenia and depression are independently associated with some other, unknown cause, such as a genetic predisposition. A new study by British geneticists is trying to put an end to this dispute. Using the latest methods of analyzing genetic data, scientists have found that we are talking about a real causal relationship: it turns out that smoking – in addition to everything that is already known about it – also contributes to the development of depression and schizophrenia.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), smoking is the number one preventable cause of disease and premature death in the world. In Russia, more than 300,000 people die from smoking-related diseases every year, while every third smoker (.pdf) in the country: 15% of women and half of men.

There are significantly more smokers among people with mental illness than among the general population. The life expectancy of such people is almost 20 years less, and most of this harm to health is associated with the consequences of smoking. The connection between depression, schizophrenia, and smoking was seen more than 30 years ago, but at first, nicotine addiction was considered only as an addiction – one of many, along with alcohol and substance use.

By the mid-1990s, the self-treatment hypothesis emerged, according to which the increased frequency of addictions (including smoking) among people with schizophrenia and depression is explained by their desire to stop their symptoms artificially. The self-medication hypothesis extended this understanding of the mechanism to any type of addiction, but in the case of smoking, it at least had a clear biochemical meaning: the action of nicotine on brain neurons causes the release of serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitters – the very ones whose production decreases with depression and is associated with negative symptoms schizophrenia. An increase in the level of these neurotransmitters after smoking a cigarette can cause a temporary “cure” effect in patients, which, as the hypothesis suggests, is the basis of their increased psychological dependence and explains the increased proportion of smokers among such people.

The weakness of this reasoning is that schizophrenia and depression are illnesses of a very complex nature. No one still knows how and why they develop. Therefore, even if the neurotransmitter explanation looks very logical, in fact it is not proof of causality – the same mechanisms for the release of serotonin can actually work in the opposite direction, for example, provoking pathological mechanisms that stimulate the development of diseases. Therefore, until the mechanisms of the diseases themselves become sufficiently understood – at least to the extent that the causes of other diseases associated with smoking (lung cancer, for example) are understood – the self-medication hypothesis will be doomed to remain only a hypothesis.

At least, this view of the prospects for the study of the relationship between smoking and mental illness was common until recently. However, the spread of new methods of DNA analysis in the last 10-15 years, the creation of large banks of biological materials and the emergence of new methods of statistical analysis in biology have given rise to the hope that the mysterious connection can be revealed even without a thorough understanding of the mechanisms of schizophrenia – it cannot be counted on in the near future. account for.

First of all, we are talking about a special type of research – genome-wide association analyses, or GWAS. They are carried out as follows: volunteers from different groups (sick and healthy, smokers and non-smokers) fill out detailed questionnaires, provide medical histories and other data, donate blood or saliva. DNA is extracted from the samples, it is read in the laboratory – usually not in its entirety, but only individual “letters” that differ from person to person. They are called polymorphisms, or SNPs.

Based on these data, scientists then examine associations—that is, the statistical relationship between individual SNPs of a person and, for example, his history of mental illness. Data collection is usually carried out by large consortia and even governments, while analysis is carried out by separate independent groups of researchers. Therefore, on the basis of the same biobank of data, it is possible to conduct many studies on different topics – in the study under discussion, for example, the same UK Biobank was used as in the study of homosexuality.

GWAS research is actually much more complex than it first appears, primarily because different genes can interact with each other. If we are talking about a complex trait, especially associated with the psyche, then hundreds of different SNPs can be statistically significantly associated with it, and what mechanism underlies this relationship is completely unclear without additional research. In addition, usually even all these hundreds of SNPs taken together do not explain all the occurrences of a trait: most of the genetic contribution is “smeared” over a long tail of thousands of different SNPs, each of which makes only a small contribution to the manifestation of a trait.

Today, studies of this type have been carried out for both schizophrenia and smoking. SNPs are known that are significantly associated with an increased incidence of the disease, and those that are more common in those who smoke. The main task of such work is to find those biochemical pathways, the work of which is disrupted during a disease or changes, contributing to a tendency to smoke. However, as it turned out, even without knowing the exact mechanism that underlies all these pathways, based on GWAS data, it is possible to find out what is the cause and what is the effect in this case. And to clarify where the association between mental illness and smoking comes from. This becomes possible thanks to the method of data analysis, which came to medicine and biology from the economy.

The analysis that biologists call Mendelian randomization and economists call instrumental variable analysis has only very recently been applied (.pdf) to GWAS data. It is based on a rather simple idea. If we have two signs – for example, blood cholesterol and cancer – and we do not know how they are related to each other and whether they are influenced by some “third causes”, then we can use our knowledge of external factors , which, according to independent data, exactly affect one of the potential causes.

For example, it is known exactly about cholesterol which mutations cause a strong decrease in its level in the blood. It is also known that these mutations spread in the population completely by chance: whether or not a person receives such a mutation from his parents depends on the random distribution of alleles according to Mendel’s laws (hence the name of the method), and not on his cholesterol level, diet or social status.

The essence of the method is to use the known dependence of the “mutation → cholesterol” type and the fact that these mutations are distributed randomly in the population, as a kind of analogue of a randomized clinical trial. If in such studies the participants in the experiment are divided into groups (those who receive the drug or placebo) by scientists, then here this happens by itself. Someone gets “good” mutations, someone “bad”, but this distribution does not depend on social status or any other factors, but happens by chance. And since we know exactly how such mutations affect a person, then in the end we get a randomized effect, in which the owners of certain genetic features are similar to the placebo or drug groups in conventional studies.

In our example, if a cholesterol-lowering mutation occurs significantly more often in people with cancer, then we can be sure that its low level really somehow causes an increase in the incidence of cancer, and not just due to it due to what for a third reason.

In the new study, this principle was applied in much the same way, with the difference that for schizophrenia, and for depression, and for the genetic propensity to smoke, there is no single mutation that explains the increase in risk entirely. Instead, the authors used a set of previously established SNPs that collectively are responsible for some known increase in the likelihood of becoming a smoker or having a mental illness.

Generally speaking, research on the topic with Mendelian randomization by GWAS has already been done (eg here). However, so far they have not been very convincing – at least for the authors of the new work. The novelty of the article under discussion, according to them, is that it succeeded in: 1) collecting the most modern set of SNPs associated with the onset of smoking; 2) to develop a “correct” way to assess the intensity of smoking and the extent of its impact on health – for example, for those who quit smoking, the time elapsed since the moment of quitting this habit was exponentially weighed.

The results of the study, as already mentioned at the very beginning, indeed confirm the negative impact of smoking on mental health: the risk of encountering schizophrenia in smokers is 2. 27 times higher than in non-smokers, and being diagnosed with clinical depression is 2 times higher .

Here, at the risk of complicating the picture even more, it should be noted that in addition to the “smoking → mental illness” relationship, the authors also studied the reverse causality: “mental illness → smoking”. And they really found this causality – however, this time only for depression. For schizophrenia, the data were statistically inconclusive.

In other words, it turned out that both explanations put forward by scientists at the dawn of studying the connection under discussion can indeed take place in different situations: both smoking increases the risk of mental illness, and the diseases themselves (at least depression) can exacerbate the tendency to smoke – although the latter effect is much weaker than the former.

Whether this is due to the compensation mechanism proposed by the self-treatment hypothesis or not, of course, it is impossible to say from such data.