One for the Civil Aviation Authority: Smoking keeps pilots alert!

Under the title Is the smoking ban to blame for tired pilots? KrausKBlog reports on research claiming that active smokers can sustain their concentration for longer than non-smokers, and the poorest performers are nicotine-deprived smokers.

Similar research is reported here. Nicotine increases work capacity. Remember that next time you have to clock out for a smoke break.

The study on which this good news is based? You can see the abstract here.

The conclusion (from a tobacco harm reduction blog):

It’s time to be honest with the 50 million Americans, and hundreds of millions around the world, who use tobacco. The benefits they get from tobacco are very real, not imaginary or just the periodic elimination of withdrawal. It’s time to abandon the myth that tobacco is devoid of benefits, and to focus on how we can help smokers continue to derive those benefits with a safer delivery system.

Whether or not you want to switch to a safer delivery system is a personal decision. Any smoker who does claim to derive benefits from smoking (in spite of official assurances that they are all in the smoker's imagination) will welcome this research.