Nicotine Has a Bad Rap. There Might Be Some Very Good Health Uses for It.

A small study in Bioelectronic Medicine gave nicotine patches, the same ones that smokers use to quit cigarettes, to four long-COVID patients.

Their cognitive symptoms, including poor concentration and memory issues, improved dramatically.

Anyone taking nicotine to treat brain fog (like me) is still very much experimenting.

Nicotine’s role in facilitating attention is one of its most well-established functions.

In 2012 , a randomized controlled trial showed that short-term nicotine use improved cognitive performance in people with mild cognitive impairment.

Researchers are wrapping up a larger, multiyear follow-up study looking at the long-term effects of nicotine in this population.

Both he and Levin are skeptical that nicotine will ever gain FDA approval for cognitive impairment.

There’s simply no financial incentive—nicotine is too cheap, too old, and too unsexy for drug companies to invest in.

If you do try it, Levin recommends going “low and slow,” and working with a doctor.