#6 The Dark Side of "Safe" Nicotine

I used nicotine a lot... pouches, mints, lozenges, every day for 4–5 years but I never smoked a cigarette in my life.

This isn't a scare video and I'm not here to lecture you.

I want to give you the honest, full picture - the science, the real benefits I got, and the costs I didn't expect.

In this video I cover:
→ Why I started
→ What nicotine actually does to your brain
→ How I used it alongside other supplements
→ The appetite suppression effect and how it's helped me
→ The negatives nobody talks about - morning fatigue, feeling absent, losing presence
→ Dosage guidance - where to start, where I was, what to watch for
→ Why I'd never touch snus, and and why pouches/mints are a different category

I'm still someone who uses it.

But I now understand the mechanism, and that's what most people using these products are missing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So I want to talk about something that I've never really publicly opened up about and over the last four to five years it's actually my relationship with nicotine, right? This by the way before I dive in, it's not cigarettes, it's not vapes, I've never touched that sort of stuff. Um not something I probably even will at least touch wood. However, it's more in the the pouches, the mints, the lozenges, the whole lot, right? And honestly, for a long time I didn't think it was a problem. It helped me and genuinely I think it actually helped me a lot more than I thought. Which I'm not gonna come at this video from an angle of how it's all negative, but I wanted to kind of share my real, non-biased opinion and experience with it too over the last four to five years. Because I want to kind of give you the full picture, and I want to give you the full picture with this because if you want to use it, by all means go to town with it, but even at least you have the real version from experience with someone that's been um using it probably almost too much sometimes for the last four to five years. Right, so how it all started for me, it was actually recommended by a business mentor, and there's more framing from this science, the productivity, the angle of a help it helps you focus, which I think was around COVID years, and hats up to the man, he's helped me in so many ways. And the science is actually real, like what it generally does is triggers dopamine, which is basically the reward center of your brain, which helps you want to do more of the things you're currently doing. So I usually used to take it during work, you usually want to tell me to do like long hours, like oh night to sometimes just get a lot of things done, working on projects, working on business, developing developing certain things I want to develop, and sometimes even studying too. For me, it was actually the reason I took it was for the productivity edge. There was a lot of benefits, a lot of negatives that came with it, which I'll dive into as well. But like the result for me was sharper focus, I was a lot more alert, I could stay switched on for the entire day. It was amazing, and it still has that effect today as well because I don't use it in too many big doses, and funnily enough, I used to kind of brag about it because I'd be like, Hey, I'd never get tired. I'd consistently focus the entire day and I'd get a lot of things done. So for me, I I love it personally, and I still use it by the way. But like there's also a lot of other benefits. So for me, it suppressed my appetite, which helped me get leaner much easier. Like, dieting was an absolute breeze, it was a walk in the park. And for a lot of people, they struggle with dieting because of again dopamine, right? They almost like when you crave when you have chocolate, when you have junk foods, you triggers dopamine for a little bit, and then you obviously crash afterwards, and uh you do some people obviously fry the dopamine a bit too much, but it actually helped me a lot from a fitness perspective to help with blood flow. Obviously, there's some health benefits with nicotine, but especially when you microdose it. The appetite as well, every diet I did, I never struggled. I never struggled with cravings at all. It's more like a mental block for me when it came to dieting, as opposed to more tactical hunger, etc. Because you know, you pop a mint, appetite's gone, it was great. And to be honest, if you're gonna use it for that reason, by all means go to time with it. A lot of people do use it. Bodybuilders, they vape all day like they like chimneys nowadays, and that's generally the main reason. It helps them with dieting, and you know, if it curves that little edge and it gives you the benefits, by all means I'm not here to recommend you to use it, I'm just gonna give my full experience here with it. Generally, what nicotine does to the brain it creates a dopamine loop. That and the dopamine is basically your body's reward centre and the reward signal. And so when you you know, say you do a big task, you get it done, you feel like a big height, that's dopamine, you have chocolate, you know, you feel like you've done something, and you give it your body into hits sugars, that's dopamine, you and you get a project done, dopamine. You know, you work hard towards something, it's dopamine. So, like your brain generally starts to trigger as more of a reward center, so it makes you want to do more of those things, and it can be skewed for a lot of people too, especially when it comes to health and fitness too. But for me, obviously, I didn't use it in the way of cigarettes, vaping, etc. I use it in more the mints, the chewing gum, the pouches, which by the way, they're probably the most easy to overuse, by the way, because you can take them like I generally go in periods where I go out and have it in my backpack of my pocket, and if he's chewing them after a meal, you have a bit of a kick of dopamine, which makes you want to stop eating. And generally, it was this thing where it actually kind of gives you a little bit of an easy, convenience, easy access towards it compared to other things where if you're smoking, you have to go outdoors, go to smoking areas, you know, doing certain places. But this was a little bit different for me, and because it became so accessible was when I started to overuse it. What I then started to find as well, the more I used it, the more I'd want. Your body becomes a lot more unresponsive, right? So, like it started off with about one milligram, two milligrams a day, now we're at to five to ten, and now if I have ten, like do I feel it? Yes, still feel it, but it doesn't give you the same effects as it did at the start when you're taking it as well. You have to kind of increase your dose to get more out of it. And funnily enough, I know a lot of people that take up to 50, 100, 200 milligrams, and funnily enough, some of them are athletes by the way, which kind of surprises me. But when you have too much of it, your body gets very accustomed to the same dose, so you actually having to need more of it to feel the same level, and it's not necessarily a boost anymore, you're trying to get to the same baseline. Which, by the way, for a lot of people, your tolerance will build pretty fast. Like, what starts at four milligrams ends up being 20, ends up being 30, and you know, by the time you know it, you're pretty much higher and higher, and you're kind of going for other more stronger effects as well. There'd be thinking of some days where it goes to 50 milligrams a day, and like compare that to a cigarette, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it feels like a lot because it's a direct tip of nicotine right away. Like the delivery is cleaner compared to a cigarette, and even though I don't want to compare you know two evils, it still wasn't quote unquote as bad as you normally think, even though it wasn't always positive and the whole sense too. But the good news for me I found like it's much easier to quit, right? I can take one day off with a feel bit of withdrawal symptoms, two days off, and you're back to and you're back to baseline. Like you barely crave it, I'd say you still want it, it's nice to have, but you almost don't have the same reliance as you would normally would. It's like if you would have a cigarette where it takes a little bit of time to come off because of the addiction processes as well. But that's my experience. Some people may be different, I totally get it. But it just depends on your personality and how much you've used, how much you how you reliant you've become on it as well. I think like I've had periods where you've had to take a bit of a dopamine reset to like it's which wasn't fun by the way, like cold showers, eliminate sugar, eliminate dopamine, which the first few days kills you by the way, and you kind of get back to a baseline. So it depends on how I wouldn't say mentally strong you are, how you kind of combat these things as well, and how you experience these being over time and other things as well. But like, I just want to be straight with you. I'm not someone who got addicted in the traditional sense. I never feel like I couldn't stop. If I wanted to stop, I would stop. I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed the benefits, I still take a day-to-day, far, far less by the way. I'm compared with other things as well, such as alpha GPC, caffeine, medaphnil, which by the way, if you can compare it, I think nicotine just gives you the best ride in my experience. So caffeine is great, but I find most times when I have too much of it, I crash, which by the way, with nicotine are the same, but like nicotine kind of you know hits your brain, gives you a short-term release of dopamine. Caffeine I find it kind of continues to for the rest of the day too, up until the next day because of the half-life. So, my experience for me hasn't been addictive whatsoever. I've never really touched other things like snus, and which you know a lot of people do footballers, celebrities, actors, athletes, everyday people like you see, you just see it, and it's probably the most common nowadays compared to the style that being used in generally speaking. And for me, the positives, the bonuses, focus and appetite. I can just work all day and get so much done, which if you want to push hard in life, you know, you probably want anything you can do to get that, and that's always safe. So for me, it was big the big bonus was that directly. Anytime I dieted, it helped me get leaner and leaner without any appetite effects. And I never really felt hungry at all. Like there was a negative, of course, where you'd obviously have to take more and more as you get deeper into a deficit. And obviously, from a cardiovascular standpoint, it didn't really affect you positively either. I wouldn't say it was negative, but I wouldn't say it helps you either. You do feel it, generally speaking, especially the night before you take a lot. You wake up in the morning, you feel fatigued, and leave the benefits on there. But overall, for me, the positives I think was super worth it, and that itself has been an amazing experience for me overall. But now the real negatives, the mornings, like for me, especially when it came to a place where I almost overused and used a lot of it. Every morning I was fatigued to the max. I generally could not focus, and if I woke up an hour later, I'd be knackered. Like I remember on holidays we went to a work trip for Miami, and we were doing filming every morning. An hour and I had to go back home. I was like, I can't actually function here for some reason. I'd take caffeine, which will get me wired and tired, then nicotine, and it wasn't fun. So, like the mornings for me were a killer, especially when you take too much the day before. You feel it, you're fatigued, you don't feel healthy, you don't feel fit, and it wasn't a good experience whatsoever. It actually kind of helped me back in a lot of ways as well. Even on social events or like in nights out, not nights out in the drinking sense, I don't drink by the way, but like in the sense where you go out for meals, like you just kind of you haven't got access to it there and then. I'd almost funnily enough on the way back home, go to a pharmacy, get another pouch, get the pocket of mint. But then I'd still have that focus in the back of my mind where if like if I just had that extra hit of dopamine, I'd feel a lot more present. So it did remove me in terms of presence a lot to be fair. I wasn't as there as I wanted it to be and involved because I just wanted that extra hit of dope of the dopamine and obviously the nicotine too, with it. It's not a craving that you can bend to your will, it's just if you've experienced it, you'll know exactly what I mean. But you're consistently in the back of your mind quite a lot, and you're just thinking about it all the time. So, like the focus and how much I needed it, it was very high. And it was like almost to a stance now where it just hindered the experience the whole night. Uh sometimes it's taking my pocket and I'm gonna finish the whole pack and I'm like panicking, and it'll just kind of be a little bit of a stress as well. And the stress wasn't worth it directly. And it just didn't make me feel fully present. Like even my honeymoon, wedding day, like it just I was present, but I know I could have got a lot more if it was a lot more involved, and as I wasn't thinking about nicotine and the mints as well, but now I'm not gonna tell you to use it, I'm not gonna tell you not to use it, that's not my place, and honestly, there's probably a lot more better sources for that. So I'm gonna give you the information that I believe is gonna be helpful for you. Like, if you are gonna use it, start low and keep it as low as possible. Like one to four milligrams should be fine, in my opinion. I think the higher you go, there is a bit of increase in effects, and obviously increasing benefits, but initially, when you take it, you will be quite tolerant to it, and you may feel spaced out, a little bit wired, and you will feel the benefits, but you'll be very, very tolerant to it, and as you take more and more, that's where it kind of comes with a lot more negative. So if you can start low, keep it low, you can use it to a good advantage without all the negatives. And also recommend as well if you are gonna use it, have periods of breaks intentionally. So I used to kind of take a break post-diet, which was hard by the way, because obviously you would use dopamine from the nicotine, and now it became from food, so I end up sometimes getting a little bit of weight quicker than I wanted to. But I find the actual stopping it was actually much easier uh than I thought compared to smoking and other things as well. You would help with having nicotine as well with other addictive uh substances too. Generally, as well, I'd also recommend as well if you kind of switch up your doses so you go from like chewing gum to the mints. Um, you may use snouts if you want, so that's completely your choice. But I'd almost make sure as well in those scenarios, if you are gonna all like kind of stick to it, if you find that your dose is increasing, increasing, increasing, and you're not getting the full effects from it. I'd pair to what I would do in that scenario, it'll actually kind of swap the swap the sauce as well. Because I find that if I swap from the minced to the chewing gum, I'd feel the effects again at a low dose, then back again, and I kind of just alternate between the two. So if you are gonna use it again, not advice, but I'd make sure you kind of switch around a few things and um just to make sure you're not over consuming that because that's when the negative starts to kick in. But overall, kind of like just to make sure you guys fully understand the total takeaway, nicotine isn't a monster. There's a lot of benefits from blood flow, from focus, and the nootropic effect. I personally love it. Like the focus is real, the productivity is real, the benefits are real, you do feel it. It's um got a small half-life. Well, generally wouldn't influence your sleep unless you take it too close to bed. And I think it's obviously compared to smokey if you're like a moff smoking taking nicotine, by all means go for it. But like just use it a lot better than I did, where I almost increase the doses way too much, and obviously uh start to get very reliant on it, and it starts to affect my quality of life quite a lot too. But like with anything, it's slow, it's subtle, it comes of benefits, comes of negatives, and I might not have given the enough magnitude to the negatives, but they are substantial as well, and over time, and obviously you'll feel into like your mornings do get harder, you stop feeling present, you have less energy as well over time the more you use it. Obviously, if you take enough but not too much, you have good or the benefits predominantly so, but that's a matter of choice as whether you'll take it or not. Like you don't you will notice it without a doubt. Like I'm still someone that uses it sporadically. Uh I say sporadically day to day, pretty much every single day at a low dose now. I've kind of like built my tolerance, built my habit around it. There's a lot more positive here, I don't feel the effects as much as I would. Obviously, there's some days where you get carried away, but again, it's been still really useful for me as well. But what really changed for me and what really helped me, which I think I hope will help a lot of you guys listen to this till the end, is how I used it as opposed to what I used. So, like the mechanism, the habits, the understanding behind it, that's gonna be the most important thing. Because for me as well, like I came to a place where I lost my drive because I take quick sharper hits of dopamines rather than I want to work and finish the task. So for me, it kind of came to a place where it wasn't as helpful for me because I did lose my drive a little bit and I was like, hey, well, I've lost my drive, what's happening? And I found it's like there's a correlation between the amount of nicotine I was consuming, the dopamine I was getting from that, compared to the dopamine you'd get from a full work, um full task donor, a project you've completed as well. So that's my experience. That's just what it is, it's not advice. Um, if you do want to use it, consult a medical professional, take your advice in terms of the dosage and the recommendations, and overall my experience as you please. But generally speaking, to close it off, if it's armed with the right information, it can be helpful. Armed with the wrong information can be quite harmful too, and can be used in the wrong context and overuse as well quite a lot. And it's something you want to be quite careful with too. So hope you find it useful. See you in the next one.