I always wondered if ADHD and smoking were related.

I’m ADHD boy for sure, and my dad and his younger sister are both very much not like my aunt, who is more like me. Shes in her 80s now, and was the only smoker - literally smoked cartons a week for about as long as I remember.

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sph 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I deleted my comment talking about it because it usually goes badly with the HN audience and their preconceived notions.

But I have had the hypothesis (as a layman) that growing around smokers affects the brain of a child, they self-medicate with tobacco, and the cycle continues, and it has for many generations until today when smoking is frowned upon and self-medication is no longer readily available. I don’t think smoking is the cause of all of ADHD, but we’ll eventually learn that dopamine dysfunction has a lot of different causes.

	▲	petercooper 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've had similar thoughts! I grew up around a heavy smoker. My dad told me to never smoke and I never have. But I randomly tried a nicotine lozenge in my 40s and found it such a "lightbulb on" moment that I've been using pouches for a few years now and my executive functioning still feels better for it (though not as much now as in the first two years, alas).

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onemoresoop 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

ADHD people get hooked to smoking quite easily. Nicotine's a stimulant after all.