Why want something that might help you quit smoking? If you are a smoker, going on any adventure can give a little bit of anxiety about the availability of cigarettes, or maybe you are trying to quit to give yourself more fitness, but it is proving difficult. Researchers have discovered the specific brain circuitry responsible for the anxiety experienced by tobacco quitters — this information might really help you quit smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Neuroscientists at the University of Massachusetts have identified what they call a novel circuit in the brain that activates during nicotine withdrawal, elevating anxiety. Published April 21 in the online journal Nature Communications, researchers found that the emotional feeling of anxiety stems from a region of the brain called the interpeduncular nucleus, a subregion of which creates the physical feelings of withdrawal — such as headaches, nausea, and insomnia. Perhaps unsurprisingly, researchers also found that two regions in the brain connected with drug abusers–one responsible for the feelings of reward and pleasure and one responsible for the feelings of stress and mania–were activated and interacted with the interpeduncular nucleus, suggesting that nicotine is more similar to hard drug withdrawal symptoms than previously thought.
Identifying these regions and the neurotransmitters they use to create symptoms is the first step in creating ways to alleviate or completely prevent both physical and mental withdrawal problems, the study explained. And they have already succeeded in mice. Researchers identified two factors that increase withdrawal symptoms: corticotropin, released in response to stress, and glutamate, and excitatory neurotransmitter. By using drugs to dampen these neurotransmitters, the anxiety of the mice went down.
The study suggests that the same mechanism could be applied to humans, and that the possibility is not far off. Principal Investigator Andrew Tapper explained that drugs are already available that block the CRF receptor, a receptor that contributes to the activation of the withdrawal symptom neurotransmitters. Tapper also noted that their findings may be applied to anxiety in general, creating more effective ways at alleviating general anxiety and depressive disorders. So instead of a grueling nicotine patch program or cutting cold turkey, in the near future it may be possible to take drugs efficient enough to simply bypass any feelings of withdrawal.
In order to ensure you don’t fall craving to a cigarette because of something as sneaky as boredom, try learning some of these skills to pass the time traveling to your next adventure:
https://youtu.be/t0jSDKQ-Oy0
