Nicotine as a study aid?

[TimmyTurner]

Anybody here justify their tobacco-of-choice use as a study aid? I'm a long time smokeless tobacco user and I find the greatest impediment to quitting is the fear of loosing that nicotine kick that helps with late night or marathon study sessions. I've also used nicotine replacement therapies intermittently which have the same enhancing effects without the negative consequences of tobacco use, but it's more of a process addiction for me as well.

Not looking for support in quitting, just curious if anyone else uses nicotine as a study aid in addition to or as an alternative to other nootropics (caffeine, ADHD meds). I find that it has the energy/focus/motivational boost of caffeine without the jittery, twitchy anxiety. That's my purely experiential opinion, completely non scientific.

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[dr.phoot]

I've been looking for something close to Aderall / ADHD meds over the counter.

So nicotine gives you a similar effect?

And you talking cigarettes or something else? Coffee doesn't really work for me

 

[dtrack22]

He's talking chew. I never found that it helped me study, rather, it helped overcome sheer boredom of driving between hospitals/facilities or rotations during 4th year. Then again I was never a big all-nighter kinda studier before exams...

 

[bobtheweazel]

I always figured if I try it I'll use the patches (if that would work) cause smoking and chewing is gross. But I haven't tried nicotine for that yet. If caffeine pills don't do it for you then you might try amphetamines (though good luck getting someone to prescribe them for you). Either way I try to avoid using anything unless absolutely necessary because it's so easy to become dependent on any kind of stimulant and pretty soon you'll be like a chronic coffee drinker, where you need that caffeine boost just to get to the same level as everyone else. And you'll be going through withdrawals once you stop using amphetamines or nicotine. Not stuff you wanna start dabbling in if not absolutely necessary. So when I do pump myself full of the stimulant of my choice I only do it like the day before an exam I'm particularly concerned about or a few days of finals week–I could say I did so maybe 3 or 4 times total this past semester, far from daily use.

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[Toadesque]

Smoking helps with studying sometimes when I needed to wake up a bit (during boards, finals). Also nice at the end of a long day in clinic.