Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the C10H19N2 dept.

Nicotine Replacement: When Quitting Cigarettes, Consider Using More Nicotine, Not Less:

When delivered through cigarettes, nicotine is considered to be one of the most addictive substances on Earth, so it may seem odd to suggest that people should use more, rather than less, to quit smoking. A recent review of the research, however, has found just that.

Nicotine replacement therapy, known as NRT, has been used to help people safely quit smoking for more than 20 years. It can be prescribed by a doctor but, in many countries, is also available to buy from grocery stores and pharmacies. The Cochrane review (Cochrane assesses evidence on healthcare interventions and summarises the findings) looked at the best ways to use NRT to quit smoking – and found three ways in which using more nicotine might help:

  1. Use two forms of NRT rather than one. [...]
  2. Start to use NRT before stopping smoking. [...]
  3. Higher doses of NRT may help some people.

If you don't get a "happy" jolt from the release of dopamine (because the levels of nicotine never dropped to a stage of craving), the perceived "reward" for smoking is reduced/removed.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by stormwyrm on Saturday April 20 2019, @06:38AM (1 child)

    by stormwyrm (717) on Saturday April 20 2019, @06:38AM (#832464) Journal

    I didn't use any kind of nicotine replacements to try to quit. I tried to quit cold turkey but after a few weeks the cravings were such that I couldn't really sustain it. What did work was gradually reducing smoking over a period of time. I was never a heavy smoker, and had already been on around 1-3 sticks a day for years, and then I spent two years gradually cutting, at first spending half a year smoking strictly one stick a day, then try to skip every other day without a smoke, then two days without one, then a week without one, and then, around 2012, I finally smoked my last stick. After 12 years of smoking, that was the end. Nearly seven years now without a cigarette. But I didn't lose weight after that... I'd rather gained quite a bit soon after quitting, my weight going up from 78 kg to nearly 90 by 2015, by which time I got a gym membership and started seriously working out and that's when I started dropping weight. But yes, I did feel a lot better once it was finally over.

    --
    Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:03PM (#832517)

    1-3 cigs per day isnt even smoking in my opinion.