Re: Smoking

chris.linthompson@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Friar Broccoli wrote:
>
>>John Wilkins wrote:
>
>
> snip
>
> Hey John- did Matt let you smoke in his apartment?

NO! The ***!
>
>
>>>It is my opinion that brains come in a range of types, and
>>>some brains just have a reaction to nicotinamides binding
>>>on receptors that drives the overall neurotransmitter
>>>balance seriously out of whack. Early on, individual
>>>adaptation to the stimulus is plastic, but once you get
>>>addicted it's much less pliable. Others have no such
>>>problem. If you were addicted, then you are addicted
>>>pretty well for life. If not, not. This means that those
>>>who say it's easy to give up are talking about themselves,
>>>and not me.
>>
>>Did you're mom smoke during her pregnancy? (If she was
>>expecting you surely she must have.) Apparently, smoking at
>>this time leads to significant physical and chemical changes
>>in the brain. As I recall nicotine replaces one of the
>>neurotransmitters, causing depression (among other things)
>>if you don't get your fix.
>
>
> Doesn't it affect serotonin- reuptake?- somehow?

I suspect so.
>
>
>>Of course Christians don't have this problem since changes
>>in brain chemistry don't effect the immortal soul. (I
>>should not have said that but couldn't help myself.)
>
>
> More than that- what about that study that showed strongly religious
> people to at least have a predisposition to be hardwired for that sort
> of thing? They have their own antidepression meds. Funny, I didn't have
> any problem giving up religion, but giving up cigs was rough.

Religion wasn't so much an antidepressant as a pre-emptive strike for me. Once
it had worked the effect of being in a community and regaining my
self-respect, I found I had no further need for it.

--
John S. Wilkins, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Biohumanities Project
University of Queensland - Blog: evolvethought.blogspot.com
"Darwin's theory has no more to do with philosophy than any other
hypothesis in natural science." Tractatus 4.1122

.