Why is it so hard to quit smoking?

Only seeing others smoking can make abstainers give up their efforts to quit smoking, according to new research conducted by Duke University Medical Center.

Cause difficult to quit smoking

Brain scans done during normal smoking and 24 hours after quitting showed a significant increase in a certain activity of the brain when people who quit smoking observed pictures of other people smoking.

The study, which appeared online in the journal Psychopharmacology, gives a new insight into why it is so difficult to quit smoking, and people who quit smoking often relapse very quickly, Joseph McClernon, professor of psychiatry and faculty Behavior at Duke University Medical Center.

McClernon said: 'Only about 5% of people who quit smoking are not supported successfully. Most drug addicts go back to smoking after spending a while. We try to understand the activity of that process in the brain, and this study has made an important step forward. '

Duke researchers use a brain imaging tool called functional MRI to observe changes in brain activity that occur when drug addicts quit smoking. Participants received a brain scan once before quitting, and once after 24 hours quit. Each time they get a brain scan when viewing photos of people who are smoking.

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McClernon said: 'Quitting smoking quickly increases brain activity when you see signs of smoking. This suggests that quitting smoking actually makes the brain more sensitive to smoking signals. '

More surprisingly, he added, the brain region is activated when these signals are noticed.'We found activation in' dorsal striatum ', the area involved in learning habits or things we do with memory, such as driving or brushing our teeth. This study shows that when smokers encounter these signals after quitting, it activates the area of ​​the brain responsible for automatic reactions. This means that quitting smoking may not be a matter of conscious control. So if we want to help someone quit smoking, we need to do something, not just tell them to endure temptation. We have to help them break that habitual response. '

The new treatment option at Duke is trying to do this. One area of ​​research is focusing on using a piece of nicotine tape before quitting.

In a previously published study, Jed Rose, Duke center director for nicotine research and smoking cessation, co-authored this paper, showed that wearing nicotine and nicotine-free smoking was effective in break the habit of smoking.

Rose said: 'Smoking habits are not reinforced because smoking does not make them get more nicotine. Doing this before quitting smoking helps them break the habit and start smoking less. We have seen many people quit smoking with this method. '