Nicotine may be beneficial to those with memory impairment and Alzheimer’s. I guess it doesn’t make sense to just call it a bad drug anymore.

My sister sent me a link that set off a delightful chain of thoughts and I wanted to share them with you. I often talk in platitudes, yet here is a street level example of what I mean when I say there is no absolute good or bad, right or wrong. Life is far too rich for that!

First, the link: Nicotine Patch Improves Memory in People with Mild Cognitive Impairment. And now for the bottom line:

By specifically activating those remaining receptors, nicotine can boost the function of surviving neurons. And research done in cells suggests it might even protect neurons from Alzheimer’s disease.

Many other studies have shown alertness benefits from nicotine so this makes sense to me. Then there is the “accelerated metabolism” side effect too and nicotine is starting to look like the perfect drug for women over 50!!! Especially when you consider a patch in lieu of actually smoking. He he.

My mom, 87, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 83. Curiously, she was a smoker for many years, long after my Dad quit. We thought she was being stubborn though also heavily influenced by the addictive qualities of nicotine – which of course may well be true. What if she were also delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s at the same time???

Perhaps some inner guidance of mom’s kept her smoking well past everyone else wishing she would quit. I just love all these twists and turns away from the pretend black and white versions of reality!

It’s just another way of saying there truly is a silver lining to everything, if we are open to cuddling up in it. It is that place out there in “the field” beyond all notions of right-doing and wrong-doing as Rumi says. Chalk up another one for flexible truth and situational awareness.

Photo Credit: My last nicotine patch by SolGrundy on Flickr.

Love,

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