Benefits of Nicotine

I was looking at the Wikipedia article this morning about fibromyalgia. I find it very interesting that one of the proposed causes of this is a dopamine imbalance.

Thirty years ago, everyone smoked or was in close contact with someone who smoked. Now, I'm not for smoking, but nicotine itself is a wonderful, naturally occurring chemical. I won't go into it now, but we have to realize that thirty years ago, just about everyone was on this mood enhancer.

And, big surprise, nicotine raises dopamine levels.

I believe that our smoking and second-hand smoking--while obviously detrimental to the lungs--did an amazing job in warding off a lot of today's ills. I bet if we looked at it closely, we would find a link between lower nicotine levels and many of the conditions we have today that seem so much more prominent than they were thirty-plus years ago, not just fibromyalgia, but also ADHD, childhood/adolescent obesity, road rage/sports rage, etc. I'm not saying we should start smoking again, but I don't know that I'd be against a nicotine supplement.