Quitting smoking can reduce stress levels

Smokers often use cigarettes as a tool to manage stress, but a new study suggests that kicking the habit altogether is more likely to calm their nerves.

The study was reported in the journal Addiction and researchers argue that smokers must learn that by quitting, they will not be depriving themselves of a precious stress reliever.

The research involved 469 smokers who had been in hospital suffering from heart disease and as a result they had tried to quit smoking. Researchers found that those who not smoked in a year showed a significant reduction in their perceived stress levels. In contrast, the heart patients who went back to smoking found their stress levels remained unchanged.

Peter Hajek, a professor at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry was the lead researcher in the study. He told Reuters Health: "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."

Professor Hajek explained that when smokers are unable to have a cigarette for a long period of time, they tend to feel more irritable, edgy and uncomfortable. So if someone who smokes 10 cigarettes a day is unable to smoke, they experience 10 spells of stress each day, as the amount of nicotine in their body declines. If that person were to give up they would have 10 less stress periods a day.

"A cigarette relieves this stressful state and this is probably the main reason smokers think that smoking relieves stress" added Professor Hajek.

Giving up smoking does not only benefit a smoker's physical health, but also their mental well-being. There are many methods used by smokers who try to give up, these include nicotine patches or gum, lozenges, hypnotherapy and inhalators.