Doctors Love This One Trick
I am not an exercise guy. I hate exercise.
And yet, I always go to the gym. I have made it very difficult for myself to ever quit going to the gym.
Sometimes I’m really very tired and I decide “That’s it, I’m too tired, I’m skipping the gym today.” To my shock, five minutes later I’m putting my shorts on. It’s like I’m addicted, I lack the willpower to stay home, I have no control over this habit.
How? Well you see, nicotine is a habit forming drug. When smokers quit smoking, they still like going outside for five minutes every hour.
Well I just take nicotine every time I go to the gym. Now I’m addicted to going to the gym.
I don’t smoke or vape, don’t do that, it’s bad. I take a gum. It slowly releases nicotine for about the length of a gym session. Fast intake methods are more addictive, the dose is less controllable (so you keep “accidentally” increasing the dose), and the effect wears off quickly. So use gum, or something else that’s slow.
Actually, the smallest gum they sell (2mg) is too much for me so I take half a gum and throw away the other half.
Compared to being sedentary, that’s a 25% reduction in all-cause mortality risk 1.
Without this, I definitely would not go to the gym. I hate exercise!
What’s the negative health effects of 1mg of gum 3x a week? Well they haven’t studied nicotine doses that low. But it’s probably zero 2.
Won’t this get you addicted to vaping and smoking?
No you dummy, because once you start using nicotine for any other purpose, it dilutes the gym=nicotine association and ruins the entire healthy addiction. So when I have an opportunity to smoke, I don’t, cause I don’t want to ruin my special gym habit.
I have been doing this for years. If you’re seriously considering this:
- Take a one week break twice a year.
- Especially if you find yourself being irritable on off days.
- Don’t overchew the gum, keep it at a slow drip.
- First time I tried nicotine I worked out for two hours straight. Enjoy! That effect wears off over time.