Studeo
19th June 2010, 12:03
Giving up smoking actually 'REDUCES stress levels'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1287351/Giving-smoking-reduces-stress-levels.html
By Mail Online Reporter
Last updated at 9:21 PM on 17th June 2010
Smokers often say they need a cigarette to calm their nerves but a
British study has found that chronic stress levels may go down after a
person kicks the habit.
A study of 469 smokers who tried to quit after being hospitalised for
heart disease found that those who stayed away from cigarettes for a
year reported a reduction in their perceived stress levels.
Stress levels were essentially unchanged among heart patients who went
back to smoking, according to researchers from Barts and The London
School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The study, reported in the journal Addiction, supported the theory
that, at least for some people, smoking actually contributes to
chronic stress.
'Smokers often see cigarettes as a tool to manage stress, and
ex-smokers sometimes return to smoking in the belief that this will
help them cope with a stressful life event,' researcher Peter Hajek
said.
Yet studies have shown that non-smokers tend to report lower stress
levels than smokers do.
The reason for that difference has been unclear, but it could mean
that people vulnerable to stress are more likely to take up smoking.
On the other hand, smoking itself may generate long-term stress, even
if people feel it offers them temporary relief from trying situations.
Hajek's study found that most of the 469 smokers - 85 percent -
believed at the start of the study that smoking helped them deal with
stress to some extent. Half said that the habit "very much" helped
them cope.
But one year later, the study participants were surveyed again at
which point 41 percent had not returned to smoking.
On average, Hajek and his colleagues found the abstainers showed a 20
percent reduction in their reported stress levels, while patients who
had gone back to smoking showed little change in their perceived
stress.
The relationship between abstinence and reduced stress held up when
the researchers accounted for factors such as patients' age and
education, how heavily they had smoked before quitting, and how high
their stress scores were at the start of the study.
The researchers said the findings support the idea that dependency on
cigarettes is itself a chronic source of stress.
'When dependent smokers cannot smoke, as the period without cigarettes
lengthens they tend to feel more and more edgy, irritable and
uncomfortable,' Hajek said. 'A cigarette relieves this stressful
state, and this is probably the main reason smokers think that smoking
relieves stress.'
Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes per day, for example, essentially
goes through 20 bouts of stress each day, as the levels of nicotine in
the body decline. Once that person quits - and gets over the initial
period of withdrawal - he will have 20 fewer periods of stress each
day, Hajek said.
Hajek said these findings suggested that quitting may not only benefit
smokers' physical health, but possibly their mental well-being as
well.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1287351/Giving-smoking-reduces-stress-levels.html#ixzz0rG2PveYl
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1287351/Giving-smoking-reduces-stress-levels.html
By Mail Online Reporter
Last updated at 9:21 PM on 17th June 2010
Smokers often say they need a cigarette to calm their nerves but a
British study has found that chronic stress levels may go down after a
person kicks the habit.
A study of 469 smokers who tried to quit after being hospitalised for
heart disease found that those who stayed away from cigarettes for a
year reported a reduction in their perceived stress levels.
Stress levels were essentially unchanged among heart patients who went
back to smoking, according to researchers from Barts and The London
School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The study, reported in the journal Addiction, supported the theory
that, at least for some people, smoking actually contributes to
chronic stress.
'Smokers often see cigarettes as a tool to manage stress, and
ex-smokers sometimes return to smoking in the belief that this will
help them cope with a stressful life event,' researcher Peter Hajek
said.
Yet studies have shown that non-smokers tend to report lower stress
levels than smokers do.
The reason for that difference has been unclear, but it could mean
that people vulnerable to stress are more likely to take up smoking.
On the other hand, smoking itself may generate long-term stress, even
if people feel it offers them temporary relief from trying situations.
Hajek's study found that most of the 469 smokers - 85 percent -
believed at the start of the study that smoking helped them deal with
stress to some extent. Half said that the habit "very much" helped
them cope.
But one year later, the study participants were surveyed again at
which point 41 percent had not returned to smoking.
On average, Hajek and his colleagues found the abstainers showed a 20
percent reduction in their reported stress levels, while patients who
had gone back to smoking showed little change in their perceived
stress.
The relationship between abstinence and reduced stress held up when
the researchers accounted for factors such as patients' age and
education, how heavily they had smoked before quitting, and how high
their stress scores were at the start of the study.
The researchers said the findings support the idea that dependency on
cigarettes is itself a chronic source of stress.
'When dependent smokers cannot smoke, as the period without cigarettes
lengthens they tend to feel more and more edgy, irritable and
uncomfortable,' Hajek said. 'A cigarette relieves this stressful
state, and this is probably the main reason smokers think that smoking
relieves stress.'
Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes per day, for example, essentially
goes through 20 bouts of stress each day, as the levels of nicotine in
the body decline. Once that person quits - and gets over the initial
period of withdrawal - he will have 20 fewer periods of stress each
day, Hajek said.
Hajek said these findings suggested that quitting may not only benefit
smokers' physical health, but possibly their mental well-being as
well.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1287351/Giving-smoking-reduces-stress-levels.html#ixzz0rG2PveYl