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Smoking causes stress: helping people quit

Smoking causes people stress but many people believe the opposite. They fail to realise that the apparent mood lift produced by smoke inhalation is a result of the relief from nicotine withdrawal.

Convincing them that nicotine leads to stress may be a key factor in helping people to quit, and research conducted at Swansea University found that a brief leaflet about smoking and stress was effective in changing people’s beliefs about smoking.

The results of the research by Professor Andy Parrott and Rachel Murphy from University of Wales, Swansea will be presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference at the City Hall Cardiff on Friday 31 March 2006.

A sample of 82 adolescent smokers took part in the research. Half were given a leaflet which described how adolescents who take up smoking report an increase in stress and depression, whereas quitting leads to lasting mood improvement.

The leaflet also explained how the repeated experience of irritability and other negative moods in-between cigarettes led to these mood problems. The control group read a different leaflet explaining how cigarette smoking causes oral health problems. Compared to the control group, those given the leaflet on stress and smoking became more negative in their beliefs about smoking.

The researchers suggest that giving people correct information on links between stress and mood helps smokers come to a better understanding of the negative effects that smoking can have. Health education campaigns may benefit from including this information.

Ref: PR966