Smoking-induced body sway and its suppression by periodic saccades

The effect of cigarette smoking on body sway, the everlasting displacement of the center of gravity while standing upright, was studied and smoking was found to induce an unusual, oscillatory body sway that was higher in frequency and greater in amplitude than that in controls and lasted in general for several minutes after smoking. This characteristic body oscillation was strongly suppressed by periodic, saccadic eye movements. These results suggest that nicotine absorbed into blood during smoking affects the structures in the brain stem related to the regulation of standing posture and the saccadic eye movement.