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Could you list some examples of those legitimate reasons? I fail to see any, and I've lived with smokers my whole life. I'm genuinely interested.

by oAlbe 9y ago

cgag 9y ago
Feels good, relieves stress, is social, is an excuse to step outside, and also with the social aspect there's a selection effect for a certain type of person. Also someone mentioned the antipsychotic treatment, irrelevant to most but pretty interesting: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/11/schizophrenia-no-smoking-gun/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/11/schizophrenia-no-smokin... edit: good list of nootropic-style benefits of nicotine from gwern (https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine) Improved reaction time, IQ test scores on the RAPM, pilots performanced enhanced, driving performance enhanced, overnight performance on memory and attention tasks improved, improved prospective memory, helps with ADHD, may help depression, found to help with mild cognitive imparement in the elderly
- ckarmann 9y ago
  Yes, nicotine at low dose has a stimulant effect who explains most of that. But its tolerance builds up very quickly and most habitual smokers don't really feel this effect anymore and have to smoke more. At high dosage its effect turns from stimulant to sedative and reduce neuronal activity. On the anecdata side, I have a few smoker friends who explained to me they only really feel the first cigarette in the morning. All the others cigarettes they smoke are due to habit/withdrawal. In the end, there are a lot of stimulant drugs who do not have as much side effects as nicotine, especially when it comes in the form of tobacco, so it does not appear like smoking is a possible rational choice.
  - cgag 9y ago
    Like what? Cigarettes may have lots of side effects but nicotine seems very mild in terms of side effects. Like caffeine level. Even the addictiveness seems to be heavily influenced by the other ingredients in tobacco/cigarettes.

Could you list some examples of those legitimate reasons? I fail to see any, and I've lived with smokers my whole life. I'm genuinely interested.

by oAlbe 9y ago

Could you list some examples of those legitimate reasons? I fail to see any, and I've lived with smokers my whole life. I'm genuinely interested.

cgag 9y ago

Feels good, relieves stress, is social, is an excuse to step outside, and also with the social aspect there's a selection effect for a certain type of person. Also someone mentioned the antipsychotic treatment, irrelevant to most but pretty interesting: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/11/schizophrenia-no-smoking-gun/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/11/schizophrenia-no-smokin... edit: good list of nootropic-style benefits of nicotine from gwern (https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine) Improved reaction time, IQ test scores on the RAPM, pilots performanced enhanced, driving performance enhanced, overnight performance on memory and attention tasks improved, improved prospective memory, helps with ADHD, may help depression, found to help with mild cognitive imparement in the elderly

ckarmann 9y ago
Yes, nicotine at low dose has a stimulant effect who explains most of that. But its tolerance builds up very quickly and most habitual smokers don't really feel this effect anymore and have to smoke more. At high dosage its effect turns from stimulant to sedative and reduce neuronal activity. On the anecdata side, I have a few smoker friends who explained to me they only really feel the first cigarette in the morning. All the others cigarettes they smoke are due to habit/withdrawal. In the end, there are a lot of stimulant drugs who do not have as much side effects as nicotine, especially when it comes in the form of tobacco, so it does not appear like smoking is a possible rational choice.
- cgag 9y ago
  Like what? Cigarettes may have lots of side effects but nicotine seems very mild in terms of side effects. Like caffeine level. Even the addictiveness seems to be heavily influenced by the other ingredients in tobacco/cigarettes.