CONTRARY to popular belief, quitting smoking may not worsen mental disorders, and could even be associated with improved mental health.
According to British researchers, quitting smoking reduced anxiety and stress in people with and without psychological disorders.
Do cigarettes really relieve stress, as many smokers seem to believe? In the collective imagination, tobacco is said to have calming effects, and even stress-relieving virtues.
This is a widespread idea that prevents some people from giving up smoking, especially if they suffer from mental health disorders.
However, a new study by researchers at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences in the UK could put an end to this preconceived idea.
The scientists looked into the impact of smoking cessation on mental health, using data from a randomised clinical trial conducted in 16 countries and 140 centres between 2011 and 2015.
However, not all participants were included in the study, which was based solely on data from US-based participants, ie, 4,260 adult smokers with or without mental disorders — just over 55 per cent had a history of mental illness.
Published in the journal JAMA Network Open, their research suggests an association between smoking cessation and “significant improvements” in anxiety and depression levels. This observation was made between the ninth and 24th week of abstinence.
In other words, smoking cessation did not aggravate mental disorders in the people concerned and may even have proved beneficial to their mental health.
“While we are seeing a large decrease of smoking rates over the years in the UK for the general population, this is not the case for people living with mental health conditions. The number of people smoking who also have a mental health condition has remained the same since 1993 (approximately 40 per cent). We hope our results can help motivate policymakers and stakeholders to better support smoking cessation in people with mental health conditions,” explains researcher and lead author of the study, Angela Wu, quoted in a news release.
Smoking itself is the cause of the problems
It should be emphasised that this improvement in mental health was observed after at least nine weeks of abstinence.
This does not mean that withdrawal does not induce symptoms such as stress, fatigue, irritability or sleep disorders, but that in the long term, stopping smoking can be beneficial in all these areas.
“Many people who smoke cannot contemplate stopping smoking. They know it affects their health, but they feel they need cigarettes to cope with stress. This is what people experience every day when they smoke — they feel better afterwards.
However, what people perceive are the benefits of smoking are the symptoms of withdrawal from cigarettes. While smoking gives a short-term benefit, smoking itself is the cause of the problems,” says study co-author, Professor Paul Aveyard.
“Our study joins with others that show that when people stop smoking their mental health improves, whereas those who do not stop smoking have no improvement,” concludes Paul Aveyard. – ETXDailyUp
