2023-06-07 09:18:46
If popular belief suggests that quitting smoking has a negative impact on the mind, a study shows that it generates the opposite effect.
Even with a lot of will quitting smoking is often a real ordeal. Deprived of nicotine, the mind finds it difficult to adapt during withdrawal. The people concerned may then be confronted with a period of anxiety, depression or adopt certain behaviors such as eating more.
However, a recent study published in the journal JAMA Network tends to prove the opposite. According to the results of the researchers, the mental health of smokers would be much better and this from the first weeks of withdrawal.
Nine weeks of withdrawal needed to see the first beneficial effects
To fully understand the influence of tobacco on mental health, the researchers conducted a large clinical trial. In more than 16 different countries, volunteers wishing to quit smoking have been recruited. These were followed for 4 years. Regularly, the volunteers informed the scientists regarding their feelings.
Some specific patients, especially those with mental disorders before weaning, were more in demand. They alone represented 55% of the volunteers on the panel.
However, it appears that contrary to popular belief, withdrawal is not bad for our mental health. On the contrary: many volunteers quickly showed signs of improvement. From the ninth week of quitting, the researchers noticed a significant drop in levels of depression and anxiety volunteers.
However, researchers are aware that these effects cannot be seen in the first few days following the end of the cigarette. The volunteers suffered during the first weeks of stress, more or less moderate irritability as well as difficulties in staying awake. But these disappeared following 2 months minimumjust like the previous mental problems of smokers.
Tobacco at the origin of the mental problems of certain smokers?
However, another element emerges from this study and its conclusions. Some smokers have started to develop anxiety disorders or depression following starting cigarettes. But the latter was essential for them to manage daily stress.
If further studies are needed to prove it, cigarettes might therefore well be the cause of these disorders. In fact, stopping it eliminates what it can bring to our brain. Anti-tobacco associations see in these promising results a hope but also a means of encouraging weaning.
Thus, it would be possible to help millions of smokers around the world without using drug treatment.
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