Pumping iron to kick the smoking habit

 

Would-be ex smokers may want to try weight lifting to help them kick the habit for good, a new study suggests. The researchers found that 3 months of pumping iron seemed to help curb cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms, while reducing weight gain that sometimes accompanies quitting. Overall, men and women who completed the resistance training programme were twice as likely to kick the habit as smokers who didn’t lift weights.

Cigarette smoking kills many people across the world, and whilst most smokers want to quit, fewer than 5% are able to do so without help, says the study’s lead author, Joseph Ciccolo, an exercise psychologist with the Miriam Hospital’s centre for Behavioural and Preventative Medicine in Providence. “We need any new tools that we can get to help smokers to quit successfully and it appears resistance training could be an affective strategy,” he says.

Source: HealthNews supplement, The Mercury 14 Sept 2011

 

Did you enjoy this Health Tip? Read more of our health content here. Come back regularly or (better still) subscribe and have new tips delivered to you by email. Click here to suggest / request a health tip.

Email: