Smoking ‘Thins The Brain’

By Robert Cervin, May 3rd, 2013 | Health | 2 Comments

If you need another reason to quit smoking, then researchers have found one that will make you take action. They have found that smoking can actually thin the outer layer of the brain, or the cerebral cortex.

The researchers scanned the brains of 22 smokers and 21 non-smokers, using a technique called ‘magnetic resonance imaging’. In smokers the outer brain layer was thinner. The more heavily participants smoked, the thinner the particular area of brain was likely to be.

Previous studies have linked tobacco with brain abnormalities. But this is the first to look specifically at the brain’s effect on cortical thickness.

Study researcher Simone Kühn said in a statement: “Since the brain region in which we found the smoking-associated thinning has been related to impulse control, reward processing and decision-making, this might explain how nicotine addiction comes about.”

Kühn said the study highlights the importance of targeting young smokers with smoking cessation campaigns.

Other reasons to quit smoking include the damaging impact that the habit has on your heart health; the fact that it raises your risk of lung cancer significantly; and the numerous additional health problems that it can create, including infertility and impotence.

Nicotine addiction and force of habit can make it very difficult to give up smoking. But people who quit smoking have found that a variety of tools are available to help. This includes nicotine replacement therapy, and other options such as the stop smoking medication Champix.