Inside Health Weekly

Welcome to Nicotine.

It’s your #1 red flag: you say you’re “not addicted,” but nicotine owns your mornings, your stress breaks, and your nights out. It’s time to be real, stop pretending it’s a personality trait and break the habit before it breaks you.

In the next 3 minutes, let’s level up your knowledge on this silent killer. Find out what’s truly causing the damage, and why the puff is not worth it.

1. SCIENCE STORY

Hollywood glamorized it. Gen Z made it casual. But science? Brutal. Let’s roast the characters:

• Vito Corleone (The Godfather) – Power Smoker

  • On Screen: Big boss energy, cigars = power.

  • Reality: I have an offer you can’t refuse. Tobacco smoke contains 7,000 chemicals, at last 69 are known to cause cancer.

• Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians) – Style Smoker

  • On Screen: Cigarettes = style, chic.

  • Reality: Nothing stylish about yellow teeth and wrinkles coming a decade early, nicotine is an aging anti-serum.

• James Bond (007) – Stress Smoker

  • On Screen: Smooth operator, smokes to relief pressure.

  • Reality: Bond wouldn’t survive a chase scene with that much smoke. His lungs? Packed with carcinogens that can cause cancer.

• Popeye – “But I’m Healthy” Smoker

  • On Screen: A man that can do both, spinach in one hand pipe in the other.

  • Reality: Muscles don’t cancel out smoke. 50% of smokers die from smoking related illnesses.

• Rue Bennett (Euphoria) – The Vape Kid

  • On Screen: Cigarette as coping mechanism, a Gen Z accessory.

  • Reality: Nicotine doesn’t cure anxiety, it fuels it. Daily smokers are 2x more likely to develop anxiety disorders. Rue doesn’t need a cig, she needs a break.

Nicotine plays the same game with everyone, no matter your character. The real question: which role are you playing, and is it worth the ending?

2. FOR YOU

Made for You, because your lungs deserve better than JUUL pods and party cigs.

1. For Stress: Skip the puff. Two minutes of deep breathing drops cortisol quicker than your vape ever could. (Try: CALM)

2. For the Buzz: Trade the nicotine spike for a cold plunge. Both trigger dopamine and endorphins, one doesn’t cause cancer.

3. For the Reset: Touch grass (seriously). Sunlight and movement beat nicotine at regulating serotonin and circadian rhythm.

4. For the Ritual: Swap in a matcha latte or mushroom coffee. You keep the hand-to-mouth habit, minus the harm.

   

3. SCIENCE BREAKDOWN

Let’s clear up the smoke:

Cigarettes vs. Vapes: Who’s more toxic?

Short-term effects vs. Long-term effects: Who’s worse?

Nicotine: I know it’s a toxic relationship, but why do I keep going back?

Long story short, our brains have these receptors that mistake nicotine for our friend acetylcholine–a key neurotransmitter–because they look similar. After our brains let nicotine in, it activates the areas in our brain that make us feel that feel-good buzz. 

5. AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

Meet Vedika! Our newest Contributing Author in the Inside Health family. In her latest piece, she dives into the reality of the health equity crisis, as she puts it:

FROM CORDELIA:

Hope you enjoyed this edition on nicotine. Here’s my final take:

That’s everything for now! Thanks for hanging out with Inside Health this week. Understanding how you function starts with education, and you’re already doing the work just by being here.

Until Next Time! —The Inside Health Team.