03 Dec 2003
Smoking and Memory

Nicotine Patch May Alleviate 'Senior Moments'

But they can't bring themselves to the obvious: there are benefits to smoking.

he researchers reported that participants' perceptions of their own memories were significantly improved after four weeks on the nicotine patch compared to the placebo patch, with more seniors receiving the drug reporting a small improvement in memory. While on the placebo patch, seniors on average reported no memory change.

The four-week nicotine patch treatment also cut seniors' decision times from approximately 200 milliseconds to less than 100 milliseconds and significantly improved the consistency of participants' performance on tests of reaction time, an indication that nicotine heightened attention in individuals with AAMI.

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The researchers emphasize that, despite the possible benefits of nicotine, the results should not encourage smoking.

We are seemingly in an era of "all or nothing" - either an activity or substance must be totally good for you, or it is totally evil and must be banned. I believe Orwell phrased it as "everything not prohibited is mandatory". I'm frankly surprised that this research was even allowed to proceed - investigations into LSD (which showed great promise at one time as a treatment for several psych disorders) has been completely stopped by government order.

Don't misread this: I'm not saying that smoking is good for you - I'm saying that there are both benefits and risks involved. As there are with nearly any human activity. It's encouraging to see some of the scientific establishment acknowledging this little bit of common sense for a change....

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