I will repeat the post I made in Sunspots4ever's thread, so that this can be put to rest once and for all.
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Exercice (but not too much),yoga ,reading of a book would help(hobbies at large).
This is a type of minor depression
Gcks did not even bother to read sunspot's original complaint. Her problem is that she is TAKING MARTIAL ARTS IN THE EVENING -- a HIGH level of exercise -- and then has trouble winding down afterward.
This has nothing to do with depression whatsoever.
What is happening is that the intense exercise and mental alertness late in the day is resetting her circadian rythms. I know about circadian rythms in no little detail, because on Shuttle missions we did extensive studies, both on-orbit and with the ground controllers, on circadian rythms, and I also have the same trouble with my own martial arts class, which is scheduled from 8-9pm local.
As to the notion that nicotine is an effective treatment for depression, that makes about as much sense as saying that you should take Vioxx for your arthritis, and forget about the potential for heart attack and stroke. NO reputable, ethical medical practitioner would do so. To my knowledge, one cannot divorce "moral" [read: ethical] and "scientific" when practicing medicine. My uncle, an MD and chief of staff at his hospital, would never think of doing so.
In addition, several of the papers you reference, such as, "Relationship between mood improvement and sleep changes with acute nicotine administration in non-smoking major depressed patients," are studies principally intended to look at the acetylcholine mechanism and its role in chronic depression. The researchers simply chose nicotine as the means of affecting the cholinergic mechanism, due to its availability and convenience of administration in patch form.
I quote from the above-denoted paper:
Transdermal nicotine challenge could be useful for to explore [sic] the cholinergic status in some depressed patients and first-degree relatives, and in these kind of studies to get some more knowledge about the role of the cholinergic system in depression and maybe in other neuropsychiatric disorders.
[emphasis mine]
And from one of the other articles you cited:
“These findings don’t mean people should smoke,†warns neuroscientist Michael Kuhar, PhD, of Emory University. “Any benefits from the nicotine in cigarettes or other tobacco products are far outweighed by the proven harm of using those products. But pure nicotine-like compounds as medications do show promise for treating human disorders.â€
Nicotine and "nicotine-LIKE" compounds are, when one views the reality, vastly different things.
As to the supposed correlation between stress and smoking, as nicotine is addictive, the tendency IS to produce an endorphin-type response upon use, hence the likelihood of tobacco users to increase usage during periods of stress, and to go into depression upon withdrawal. This is a selection effect, and cannot necessarily be correlated to an actual beneficial response to the nicotine.
The solicitation of subjects for a pain-tolerance study which will, AMONG OTHER FACTORS, look at how nicotine affects pain-tolerance, is no support of ANY argument.
Orstio READ THE FOLLOWING:
“Many people have thought that cotinine was an essentially inactive metabolite, but we have shown that at appropriate doses, it enhances memory and protects brain cells from dying, as well as having antipsychotic properties,†said Jerry Buccafusco, who directed the research project at MCG.
May I point out that cotinine is a NICOTINE METABOLITE, and not nicotine in itself. It, as per the article you selectively quote, has none of the harmful side effects of nicotine, including additive tendencies.
Nicotine in and of itself is NOT an accepted, administered drug for ANY health disorder, physical OR mental. End of story.
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