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posted by Dopefish on Monday February 24 2014, @09:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the bender-might-be-less-cranky-if-he-ditched-cigars dept.

lhsi writes "A recent publication on the British Medical Journal finds that stopping smoking improves mental health: "Change in mental health after smoking cessation: systematic review and meta-analysis" (CC BY-NC 3.0).

A lot of smokers claim that smoking has mental health benefits; reducing depression and anxiety, and for relaxation and relieving stress. However the study suggests this is likely mis-attributing the ability of cigarettes to abolish nicotine withdrawal as a beneficial effect on mental health. The study notes that some health professionals are reluctant to recommend stopping smoking as a way to help mental health problems due to the fear that it might make things worse, but this study suggests that it actually would help.

The main conclusion of the study:

Smoking cessation is associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress and improved positive mood and quality of life compared with continuing to smoke. The effect size seems as large for those with psychiatric disorders as those without. The effect sizes are equal or larger than those of antidepressant treatment for mood and anxiety disorders."

 
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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 24 2014, @08:40PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Monday February 24 2014, @08:40PM (#6151) Homepage Journal

    Another mcgrew blast from the past: How to quit smoking cigarettes [kuro5hin.org]

    I suspect that the e-cigs might contribute to COPD, has anyone studied it?

    --
    Poe's Law [nooze.org] has nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poetry
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  • (Score: 1) by Jerry Smith on Monday February 24 2014, @09:04PM

    by Jerry Smith (379) on Monday February 24 2014, @09:04PM (#6172) Journal

    I suspect the e-cigs to be bad for the health too, but not as bad as straight cigarettes.

    Nice long story though. Can remember buying tobacco for my dad late seventies.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 24 2014, @09:34PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Monday February 24 2014, @09:34PM (#6202) Homepage Journal

      I doubt e-cigs will give you cancer, since you don't get smoke (unless niccotine itself is cancerous, is it?). Lots of nasty stuff in any smoke, which is why they thought pot caused cancer until they actually studied it (those who smoke both pot and cigarettes have half the cancers of those who only smoke cigs, and statistically insignifigantly fewer in those who smoke pot only than cancers in non-smokers).

      I see people with gray hair being carded for cigarettes and think "WFT"? When I was five I'd walk to the store to get cigarettes for my mother (that was in the fifties when almost all adults smoked).

      --
      Poe's Law [nooze.org] has nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poetry
      • (Score: 1) by Jerry Smith on Tuesday February 25 2014, @06:44AM

        by Jerry Smith (379) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @06:44AM (#6433) Journal

        I doubt e-cigs will give you cancer, since you don't get smoke (unless niccotine itself is cancerous, is it?).

        Nicotine was used an an insecticide and although it's not considered a carcinogen, it promotes growth and the likes: it has a very supportive roll.

        --
        All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.