Disclaimer: I have been well ahead of the curve with Nicotine as a stimulant and cognition-boosting aid. I have receipts too.

The first Muscle Mentorship in 2017, previously known as Muscle Camp until that name was used elsewhere, I advocated for nicotine use. I first started nicotine for long drives for my internships. I remember my first internship at Harvard in the Spring of 2006, I left the morning of driving from Enfield to Boston which was about a 90-minute ride. I was an energy drink guy then, but I stopped at a CVS the night before and grabbed nicotine gum cause I heard it was a potent stimulant. Redbull, Met-Rx bar, and nicotine gum got me up the Mass Pike in record time.

I have evolved over the years from energy drinks to coffee, which is a problem when your schedule is centered on being at work at 5 AM. Morning coffee (4 AM-5 AM) is like meal prep. You can make it the night before but you will eventually be worn down by the end of the week and a training cycle. Nicotine came in pretty handy when I struggled to make coffee.

I used to make my interns put a nicotine lozenge in while presenting on an anatomy line from Anatomy Trains. Read the book, get assigned an anatomy line, put the lozenge in, and present on the line for 15 minutes. What becomes evident quickly is their tolerance to nicotine and their ability to communicate something as nuanced and complicated as fascia. I have since stopped doing that exercise, we always asked for permission but felt like it was a bit much.

What is it? 

• Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid (1)
• It has two nitrogen-containing heterocycles, pyridine and pyrrolidine (1)
• Rings: One six-membered pyridine ring and one five-membered pyrrolidine ring (1)
• Methyl group: A methyl group is attached to the nitrogen atom within the pyrrolidine ring (1)
• Chiral center: The carbon atom connecting the two rings is a chiral center, allowing for two enantiomers (S and R) (1)

What does it do? 

• Nicotine and acetylcholine are both involved with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), which are proteins that respond to neurotransmitters and drugs (5)
• Stimulation of central nAChRs by nicotine results in the release of a variety of neurotransmitters in the brain, most importantly dopamine. Nicotine causes the release of dopamine in the mesolimbic area, the corpus striatum, and the frontal cortex (3)
• Smoking-attributed nicotine is known to inhibit aromatase enzyme activity, which catalyzes the conversion of androgens into estrogens. Consequently, nicotine reduces circulating estrogen levels and leads to early onset of menopause in women (4)
• nicotine induces lipolysis, in part by activating the classical adrenergic mechanism (mediated by a nicotine-induced release of catecholamines stimulating beta-adrenoceptors), and in part by directly activating a nicotinic cholinergic lipolytic receptor located in adipose tissue (2)

What are the side effects?

• nicotine is pro-oxidative but at a level that may be hormetic, that works with the acetylcholine mechanism just mentioned to exert anti-inflammatory effects (6)
• Nicotine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which causes the release of norepinephrine and increases blood pressure. This can also lead to an increased heart rate, increased blood flow to the heart, and narrowed arteries. (7)

How do people take it?

• Inhalation: Smoking, Vaping
• Transdermal – Adhesive Patches
• lingual: Chewing gums, Lozenges, Pouches (Sachets)

That is the broad strokes. One omission was dosage. This one is hard because most of the research around dosage is the amount taken in when someone is a habitual smoker. That is followed by cessation of smoking with the usage of pouches and gums. Ironically most of the new usage is done by lozenges and pouches/sachets and is based directly on the quantity of nicotine in 3, 5, 7, 10-15, 15-25mg doses.

Through general conversations with other coaches, I have taken an inventory of pouches dosages and frequency for Strength & Conditioning coaches. I have talked to over 50 S&C coaches about nicotine with their dosing and frequency.

What became apparent when talking to coaches was the reliance on nicotine. I asked them if they were interested in reducing dosage, and 100% said yes. The issue with nicotine is that it is fairly cheap to use and not difficult to use in a social setting. The natural deterrents of cost and convenience are minimal at best. The other issue is the socialization aspect. Nicotine usage has always been a shared experience. From smoke rooms to workers on smoke breaks, people have always consumed nicotine socially. With pouches, you can argue that social use is lessened, but I would argue that there is a cohort of nicotine usage on every college team in the country that gravitates to each other.

The Center for Addiction and Mental Health describes physical dependencies as:

• the urge to smoke within 30 minutes of waking – sub out pouches
• ranking the first cigarette of the day as the most important – sub out pouches
• smoking at regular intervals throughout the day – sub out pouches

It does not take much to see the value of nicotine, but in classic laws of hormesis, the dosage and frequency can turn anything into a poison. Larger body mass individuals who are cardiovascularly unfit habitually using nicotine in larger dosages is a problem. If you are a strength coach taking nicotine you should supplement with a high-quality multivitamin, chelated magnesium, fish oil, and aged garlic extract.

My take is that the good outweighs the bad. People who abuse nicotine, are likely living in excess elsewhere. What I find is that a lot of vices are treated as the lesser of two evils. ‘Yeah, I’m taking 50mg a day of nicotine, but I’m not a drug addict.” I find that argument a zero-sum game. But it does point to a simple fact that perceived benefit is offset by abuse and that is what matters. Simple message: don’t screw up a good thing by taking too much.

Some general ideas on how to best leverage nicotine:

• Afternoon stimulant – 1/2 life is about 1-2 hours, which is minimal compared to caffeine which is upwards of 15 hours (8)
• Pre WO – Especially for fat loss workouts and its benefit on lipolysis
• Pre WO – Dopamine-based workouts that are high-intensity and short-duration
• Before creative work – Acetyl-choline is the creativity neurotransmitter

Be strategic. The value is there. Nicotine is a powerful ergogenic aid when you understand how to leverage its benefits.

References: 

1. Structure and properties of Nicotine. https://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/nicotine/E-propriete.html
2. Andersson, K., Arner, P. Systemic nicotine stimulates human adipose tissue lipolysis through local cholinergic and catecholaminergic receptors. Int J Obes 25, 1225–1232 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801654
3. Benowitz NL. Pharmacology of nicotine: addiction, smoking-induced disease, and therapeutics. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2009;49:57-71. doi:10.1146/annurev.pharmtox.48.113006.094742
4. d’Adesky ND, de Rivero Vaccari JP, Bhattacharya P, et al. Nicotine Alters Estrogen Receptor-Beta-Regulated Inflammasome Activity and Exacerbates Ischemic Brain Damage in Female Rats. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(5):1330. Published 2018 Apr 30. doi:10.3390/ijms19051330
5. Melroy-Greif WE, Stitzel JA, Ehringer MA. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: upregulation, age-related effects and associations with drug use. Genes Brain Behav. 2016;15(1):89-107. doi:10.1111/gbb.12251
6. Newman MB, Arendash GW, Shytle RD, Bickford PC, Tighe T, Sanberg PR. Nicotine’s oxidative and antioxidant properties in CNS. Life Sci. 2002;71(24):2807-2820. doi:10.1016/s0024-3205(02)02135-5
7. Price LR, Martinez J. Cardiovascular, carcinogenic and reproductive effects of nicotine exposure: A narrative review of the scientific literature. F1000Res. 2019;8:1586. Published 2019 Sep 4. doi:10.12688/f1000research.20062.2
8. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322526#:~:text=How%20long%20does%20nicotine%20stay%20in%20the%20body?&text=Nicotine%20has%20a%20half%2Dlife,nails