"If you have to explain the concept of intelligence, it is in fact the ability to make sensible choices - to anticipate future challenges. And this is where nicotine can help"

Smoking increases the IQ six points in tests

Do successful anti-smoking campaigns reduce the population's level of intelligence?

Quitting smoking results in a decrease in brain activity, says professor.on the brain's performance is now confirmed by the Danish nicotine research at the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. We can now add another piece to the puzzle which clearly shows that smoking increases the intelligence. According to an interview with brain scientist, Professor Albert Gjedde in Ekstra Bladet.Albert Gjedde, along with two colleagues started with nicotine tests, according to Gjedde clearly shows that if a heavy smoker suddenly stops smoking, then it bears negative consequences on his brain activity."The energy metabolism of oxygen in the brain decreases. This means, that one's thinking capacity is also decreased. But if you start smoking again, so does the energy sales at the usual level, "he says. Albert Gjedde explains in the interview that a number of now concluded studies that smoking increases intelligence:he told the newspaper. Gjedde also refers to the Swedish professor of genetic developmental biology, Klas Kullander, who found that nicotine promotes learning and memory: "Nicotine affects receptors in the memory center. You simply get better at organizing his memory. ", said Gjedde.The Danish and Swedish findings are an extension of the large meta-analysis of the past 40 years of nicotine research, which was created by the U.S. government's "National Institute of Drug Abuse" in 2010,In the meta-analysis Stephen Heishman and his colleagues concluded that nicotine and smoking increases the brain's performance significantly on a wide range of areas, including concentration, speed, motor skills and memory. According to Heishman the positive effects help explain why people start to smoke on a permanent basis - and to explain why it is difficult to quit smoking again.Or in other words:With this, the withdrawal theory was shot to pieces; that smoking bears a physical addiction, in which the smoker has to maintain in order not to get withdrawal. Most eminent psychologists do not accept this, for example. Israeli Dr. Reuven Dar, who says that there is no dependence on smoking. It is a matter of habit, expectations & psychology:Depression, fatigue and lack of concentration, as many ex-smokers experience when quitting smoking, probably reflects the ex-smoker's unfulfilled expectations of being able to solve everyday small and large tasks as easily as he always did - when he was smoking. These expectations disappearwhen he has grown accustomed to ride in the brain's natural, lower gears - without nicotine.. The effect is also using nicotine gum and patches, but not nearly the same strength as smoking . The reason is that when nicotine is inhaled through the smoke, then it hits the brain quickly & efficiently - in seconds - and gives it a "kick". The effect lasts for 25-60 minutes.Some employers have figured this out and admit that it does not pay to prevent employees from smoking. This applies for example. the owner of the translator agency TheBigWord in Leeds, Larry Gould, who says that he was shocked when he found out that the smoking translators worked much better in the period immediately after their smoking breaks. Larry Gould now encourages all employees to take breaks and to get the same productivity out of non-smokers, of which he got from the smokers, he has supplied all levels in the company with candy and confectionery, which also stimulate the brain.Already in 1994, the nicotine researchers Stough, Gordon and others in New Zealand attempt to quantify the strength of the effect of smoking. They found that nicotine in smoking could increase intelligence by 6 points in IQ tests. If you have an IQ of 100 - which is the average - smoking will therefore be able to increase it to 106, according to these studies.Other researchers point out the positive impact of smoking on the major advances and artistic creativity that have taken place in Europe and the U.S. over the last few centuries. A large number of writers and artists have been known as a passionate smokers, and geniuses like Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein have praised tobacco positive effect on their thinking.The English psychology professor Bruce Charlton asks on his blog ; "Are we sacrificing genius and great inventions with anti-smoking campaigns in favor of longevity?" His answer: Maybe ...But - when the research now shows that smoking increases intelligence - how can the anti-smoking lobby and the pharmaceutical industry argue for the exact opposite, as the pharmaceutical company Pfizer does in this promotional item for a smoking cessation product: That one gets dumber by smoking?As an argument for that conclusion, the article points to a study showing that Israeli soldiers who smoke have lower IQs than those who do not smoke.The author of the article presents here the not especially talented, but very widespread confusion of statistical correlation and causation. The Israeli study does not imply that you get dumber by smoking. Quite the contrary:The study reflects the predictable fact that there are more smokers among the less gifted because they are more motivated to increase their intelligence by means of smoking. The cigarette offers the individual a chance of promotion to a higher division in intelligence-league - and the opportunity to commit themselves there.And who would blame the less intelligent if they seize the opportunity to get the same or a higher IQ than their peers by smoking?More seriously, if the authorities are waging war against smoking and are forcing many people to stop, if it effectively means that you initiate a significant and measurable reduction in the population's intelligence.Do successful anti-smoking campaigns make large groups of people more stupid and are we in effect waving goodbye to ingenuity, art & the great inventions, as Professor Bruce Charlton fear?If this is the result, it is perhaps not surprising that the economy is running poorly in the western world ...