Exercise Could Be The Key To Achieving Smoking Cessation Success

By Geoff Michaels, April 27th, 2013 | Health | 0 Comments

A research has found that regular resistance training can more than double someones chances of quitting smoking.

The study, which was published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, provides evidence that leading a healthy, active life can improve a smoker’s chance of giving up for good. What makes this study so interesting is that only aerobic exercise had been previously been scientifically proven to help smokers quit.

The research participants were male and female and there were 25 of each. They had all smoked for at least a year and were smoking five or more cigarettes per day. Introduced to a 60 minute circuit training routine comprising 10 exercises, the study group committed to working out twice per week over the course of 12 weeks. In addition, they received smoking cessation counselling and enough nicotine patches to last them for the duration of the course.

At the end of the study, 15% of individuals had not relapsed and had also lost weight and reduced their body fat percentage. This compared positively with another group who didn’t do the exercise and instead watched an inspirational health video twice per week instead. Here, only 8% managed not to relapse, but they did gain weight and increased their body fat percentage in the process.

Dr Joseph Ciccolo, lead author of the study, said: “Cigarette smoking kills more than a thousand Americans every day, and while the large majority of smokers want to quit, less than five per cent are able to do it without help.”

“We need any new tools that can help smokers successfully quit and it appears resistance training could potentially be an effective strategy.”