I have never read about this, but I am wondering if smoking (nicotine addiction) lowers a person’s intelligence and abilities to learn, because it limits the flow of oxygen to a human brain and this oxygen is very important in the energy consuming thinking processes. Some people start smoking very early as I have seen when 15 year old teens smoking tobacco secretly in some forests. What do you think?
Well over time that may be true. But nicotine actually " it produces small improvements in finger-tapping rate, motor response on tests of focused and sustained attention, and recognition memory."
The nicotine in tobacco stimulates several distinct parts of the reward circuit, such as the locus coeruleus and its noradrenergic neurons, which modulate movement. Several other areas in the brain that secrete acetylcholine also appear to be affected by nicotine. The hippocampus and the cortex are two such areas, which might explain the increased vigilance and attentiveness that smokers often report.
The human brain utilizes around 20% of the oxygen that is used by our body. Since the brain constantly requires oxygen in order to perform its functions, reduced availability of oxygen can have an adverse impact on the brain function.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/lack-of-oxygen-to-the-brain.html
I started smoking in the late 90’s when smoking among teens was common and tobacco was more accessible…of the other young smokers I knew I can’t say I notice any link between “IQ” and smoking…but perhaps this is different nowadays. I’d say that those of us who smoked were far more likely to drink alcohol, be sexually active and experiment with drugs than the non-smokers. My crowd was a fairly intelligent one however including high honors students and whatnot who smoked, drank and…well…it was a different time back then I guess.