Practitioner Observations of Oral Nicotine Use in Elite Sport: You Snus, You Lose

In elite sport, performance margins are small. Athletes constantly search for strategies that may improve focus, reduce fatigue, sharpen reaction times, or provide a psychological edge. Alongside evidence based interventions such as nutrition, sleep optimisation, and structured recovery, less conventional trends periodically emerge within high-performance environments. One of the most visible in recent years has been the increasing use of oral nicotine products, particularly “snus” and nicotine pouches (Mündel, 2017; Zandonai et al., 2018). Although nicotine has historically been associated with cigarette smoking and tobacco use, modern nicotine delivery systems have transformed the landscape. Tobacco free nicotine pouches are now heavily marketed as cleaner, discreet, and socially acceptable alternatives. Within elite sport settings, anecdotal reports suggest that players are using these products before training, during recovery periods, on team travel, and even around competition. What began as isolated behaviour in some environments has evolved into a broader cultural trend across certain sports (Phillips & Van Guilder, 2019).

Despite growing normalisation, the scientific understanding of nicotine use in elite athletes remains incomplete. Practitioners working in high performance sport increasingly face difficult questions around nicotine enhancing performance, impairing recovery, being addictive, the long-term physiological and psychological consequences, and perhaps most importantly, what message does its widespread use send within elite sporting cultures and to the next generations coming though.

The Rise of Nicotine Pouches in Sport

Resistance training is fundamental to athletic performance. Stronger athletes generally sprint faster, jump higher, tolerate greater training loads, and demonstrate improved change-of-direction ability (Suchomel et al., 2016). In football specifically, muscular strength is strongly linked to acceleration, deceleration, and injury prevention (Beato et al., 2021). Traditionally, football teams use pre-season to build physical qualities such as maximal strength, power, and muscle mass. During the season, however, the focus often shifts toward maintaining these adaptations while prioritizing match readiness (Darragi et al., 2024). This creates a significant challenge because the body rapidly loses physical qualities when training stimuli are reduced.

The Rise of Nicotine Pouches in Sport

Traditional snus originated in Scandinavia as a moist smokeless tobacco product placed between the upper lip and gum. More recently, tobacco-free nicotine pouches have entered the market, delivering nicotine without combustion or tobacco leaf content. Products are often flavoured, discreet, and marketed in sleek packaging that appeals to younger consumers. In elite sport, several factors appear to contribute to their growing popularity including the ease of use during travel and competition, rapid nicotine delivery without smoking, perceived cognitive enhancement, appetite suppression, social influence within teams, stress and anxiety management and increased commercial marketing exposure.

Practitioners across professional football, rugby, combat sports, motorsport, and endurance disciplines have reported observing oral nicotine use among athletes. In some environments, use appears recreational and occasional. In others, it becomes habitual and integrated into daily routines. One challenge for support staff is that nicotine use often exists beneath the surface of athlete monitoring systems. Unlike alcohol misuse or visible smoking behaviours, nicotine pouches can be used discreetly during meetings, recovery sessions, or even inside training facilities.

Understanding Nicotine Physiology

Nicotine is a potent psychoactive stimulant that primarily acts on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors within the central and peripheral nervous systems (Benowitz, 2010). Following absorption through the oral mucosa, nicotine rapidly enters circulation and crosses the blood-brain barrier. This stimulates the release of several neurotransmitters, including dopamine, noradrenaline, acetylcholine, serotonin and beta-endorphins.

The result is a temporary increase in alertness, concentration, arousal, and perceived energy (Heishman et al., 2010). Heart rate and blood pressure also increase due to sympathetic nervous system activation (Dinas et al., 2013).

From a performance perspective, these acute effects may appear attractive to athletes competing in cognitively demanding or high-pressure environments. Some athletes report feeling more alert during meetings or tactical reviews, less mentally fatigued, calmer under pressure and more energised before competition. However, these perceived benefits must be viewed alongside the physiological cost of chronic nicotine exposure.

Does Nicotine Improve Performance?

The evidence surrounding nicotine and athletic performance is mixed, inconsistent, and often overstated (Ahrens & Cuttler, 2023; Zandonai et al., 2018).

Some studies suggest nicotine may modestly improve attention, reaction time, vigilance, fine motor control and cognitive processing speed. These effects are primarily observed in situations involving fatigue or sleep deprivation (Heishman et al., 2010; Cox & Dawkins, 2021). For athletes competing under congested schedules, long travel demands, or psychological stress, the stimulant effect may create a perception of improved readiness. However, direct improvements in physical performance are far less convincing. Research investigating strength, power, sprinting, and endurance outcomes generally shows either trivial effects or highly variable responses between individuals (Mündel & Jones, 2006; Mündel, 2017).

Some athletes may experience temporary increases in arousal and motivation, while others experience impaired pacing, elevated cardiovascular strain, or gastrointestinal discomfort. Importantly, many perceived “benefits” may simply reflect reversal of withdrawal symptoms in habitual users (Benowitz, 2010). Once dependency develops, nicotine no longer enhances baseline function but instead temporarily alleviates the cognitive deficits caused by nicotine abstinence.

This distinction is critical. An athlete who believes nicotine improves focus may actually be functioning below baseline without it due to addiction related withdrawal.

Cardiovascular and Recovery Concerns

One of the primary practitioner concerns surrounding nicotine use is its effect on cardiovascular physiology and recovery. Nicotine stimulates vasoconstriction, narrowing blood vessels and increasing cardiovascular strain (Dinas et al., 2013). Acute effects include elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, reduced peripheral blood flow and increased myocardial workload. In isolation, these responses may appear manageable in healthy athletes. However, when layered onto the cumulative stressors of elite sport such as congested fixtures, travel fatigue, poor sleep, dehydration, caloric restriction, and psychological stress, the physiological burden becomes more concerning.

Reduced blood flow may theoretically impair recovery processes by limiting oxygen and nutrient delivery to skeletal muscle tissue. Although long term athlete specific data are limited, practitioners have raised concerns regarding delayed recovery, poor sleep quality, elevated fatigue, increased sympathetic activation and greater recovery variability. Athletes using nicotine late in the evening may also experience sleep disruption due to stimulant effects on the nervous system (Heishman et al., 2010). Given the critical role sleep plays in hormonal regulation, glycogen restoration, immune function, and cognitive recovery, this may become particularly problematic during intensive competition periods.

Appetite Suppression and Energy Availability

Another observed driver of nicotine use in sport is appetite suppression. Nicotine can reduce hunger and alter reward pathways associated with food intake (Perkins, 1992). In weight-category sports or aesthetic-focused environments, some athletes may intentionally use nicotine to assist with body composition management or weight cutting (Hernandez & Nelson, 2010). This creates several potential risks such as ow energy availability, impaired recovery, hormonal disruption, reduced muscle protein synthesis, increased illness risk and potentiallt Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S).

Practitioners have increasingly recognised that athletes may under-fuel not only through intentional dietary restriction, but also through behaviours that blunt appetite and distort normal hunger signalling. For younger athletes in particular, the combination of nicotine use, social pressure, and body composition goals may create unhealthy long-term relationships with both food and recovery behaviours.

Addiction and Dependency

Perhaps the greatest concern surrounding oral nicotine products is their addictive potential. Nicotine stimulates dopaminergic reward pathways, reinforcing repeated use and habit formation (Benowitz, 2010; Fagerström, 2012). Modern nicotine pouches often deliver very high nicotine concentrations, in some cases exceeding the levels previously seen in traditional tobacco products. Over time, athletes may develop tolerance, cravings, irritability, mood disturbance, difficulty concentrating without nicotine and withdrawal symptoms between doses. Practitioners have observed situations where athletes become psychologically dependent on nicotine before training sessions, meetings, travel, or competition. In many cases, nicotine appears less like a performance aid and more like a self-perpetuating cycle of stimulation and withdrawal management.

Cultural Influences Within Teams

The growth of nicotine use in elite sport is not solely physiological, it is deeply cultural. Team environments strongly shape behavioural norms. When influential senior players regularly use nicotine pouches, younger athletes may perceive the behaviour as acceptable, beneficial, or even necessary for elite performance. Practitioner observations surrounding cultural influences include use spreading rapidly through squads, younger academy athletes copying senior professionals, nicotine becoming embedded in travel and recovery routines, perception that “everyone is doing it” and lack of formal education around the risks.

In some environments, oral nicotine use becomes normalised to the point where athletes no longer perceive it as a health-related behaviour at all. This normalisation is particularly concerning because elite athletes often function as role models. Behaviours adopted within professional environments can quickly filter into youth sport, amateur competition, and wider public culture (Mündel, 2017).

Is Nicotine Banned in Sport?

Currently, nicotine is not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. However, it remains on WADA’s Monitoring Program due to concerns regarding patterns of misuse and possible performance effects (WADA, 2024). This means WADA continues to collect data on athlete nicotine use without formally banning the substance. The absence of prohibition can create confusion among athletes, many of whom incorrectly assume that “legal” automatically means “safe” or “performance beneficial.” Practitioners therefore play an essential role in bridging the gap between legality and evidence-based decision-making.

Practical Recommendations for Practitioners

1. Create Open Conversations

Athletes are more likely to engage honestly when practitioners avoid moralistic or overly punitive approaches. Education should focus on performance, recovery, sleep, and long-term health outcomes.

2. Screen Behaviour Patterns

Understanding the broader behavioural context is essential. Nicotine use may coexist alongside sleep disruption, under-fuelling, high stress, anxiety and poor recovery habits.

3. Educate Younger Athletes Early

Academy environments are particularly important intervention points. Young athletes are highly susceptible to team culture and social modelling.

4. Monitor Dependency Indicators

Practitioners should recognise signs of dependency, including compulsive use, irritability without nicotine, and escalating dosage patterns (Fagerström, 2012).

5. Promote Evidence-Based Alternatives

Where athletes seek improved focus or alertness, practitioners can instead emphasise sleep optimisation, strategic caffeine use, nutrition periodisation, hydration, psychological skills training and recovery management.

The Future of Nicotine Research in Sport

The current evidence base surrounding nicotine use in elite athletes remains limited. Many studies involve recreational populations, small sample sizes, or laboratory-based protocols that may not reflect the realities of elite competition. As nicotine pouch products continue evolving and increasing in potency, the need for athlete-specific research becomes even more urgent.

Future research should investigate:

• Long-term cardiovascular effects in athletes

• Recovery implications during congested schedules

• Sleep and autonomic nervous system disruption

• Interactions with caffeine and other stimulants

• Effects on youth athletes

• Psychological dependency in team sport environments

Conclusion

Oral nicotine use in elite sport reflects a broader challenge within high-performance culture: the constant pursuit of marginal gains, often before the long-term consequences are fully understood. Although some athletes report improved focus, alertness, or perceived readiness, the scientific evidence supporting meaningful performance enhancement remains weak (Ahrens & Cuttler, 2023). In contrast, concerns surrounding addiction, cardiovascular strain, sleep disruption, appetite suppression, and recovery impairment continue to grow.

For practitioners, the issue extends beyond physiology alone. Nicotine use is now embedded within certain sporting cultures, influenced by social dynamics, commercial marketing, and behavioural modelling inside teams. The phrase “You snus, you lose” may sound simplistic, but it captures an increasingly relevant message. A short-term stimulant effect may come at the expense of long-term health, recovery quality, behavioural dependency, and sustainable performance. Elite sport has always evolved through innovation and experimentation. The challenge for modern practitioners is distinguishing between strategies that genuinely support performance and those that simply create the illusion of advantage.

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