New Study: Drinking increases pleasure of smoking...

OK, anyone who's ever smoked would put this under the category of "DUH!". As reported in the U.K. Telegraph, scientists have recently completed a study on drinking and smoking and have come to an obvious conclusion:

Contrary to a previous theory that nicotine offsets the sedative effects of drinking, they believe that alcohol increases the amount of the chemical messenger dopamine released in "reward" areas of the brain and therefore increases the enjoyment gained from smoking.

Now I admit - freely - that at one time I was (gasp) a "social" smoker. In my early Twenties, I used to hang out with the people I worked with at the local watering hole. And after a beer or two, I would "bum" a smoke off of someone.

Well, if you believe this report, something must have clicked in my brain on those occasions because before I knew it I was buying my own cigarettes. For about two years I would smoke about a pack or so a day. Damn that alcohol!!

Look, alcohol and nicotine are both drugs. They both throw your system for a loop. So it stands to reason that - combined - they add up to a good time. Luckily for me, at about the time I met my wife, I decided to quit - cold turkey. And now I am one of the biggest anti-smoking bastards there is.

Unluckily for me, Gandalf still likes his beer. But hey, ditching one out of two bad habits is - as Bill Murray said in the movie "Kingpin" - "still, very good."

Posted by: Gary at 11:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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