Meditation could help you quit smoking

Meditating can help people quit smoking - without them even realising, it has emerged.

Researchers say the desire to quit smoking - often considered a requirement for enrolling in treatment programmes - is not always necessary to reduce cravings.

A new review of addiction research suggests exercises aimed at increasing self-control - such as mindfulness meditation - can decrease the unconscious influences that cause cigarette cravings. 

The investigation was triggered by scientists trying to understand why setting a 'quit day' isn't a surefire way of quitting success. 

Recent studies have shown that smokers have less activity in the brain regions associated with self-control.

This has raised doubts about whether targeting these areas could be a way to treat addiction.

Senior study author Nora Volkow, Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, said: 'We are interested in trying to probe how repeated use of drugs ultimately influences our ability to control our desires.

'We are starting to work through how drugs affect areas of the brain that normally enable us to self-regulate, to create goals and to be able to achieve them, and how those changes influence the behaviour of the person addicted.'

The new review was published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

One study highlighted it explored how improving self-control can help smokers with their cravings.

Researchers recruited 60 undergraduates - 27 cigarette smokers and 33 non-smokers - to participate in a body-mind training programme that included relaxation training techniques.

Each of the students came into the programme expecting to learn meditation and relaxation techniques for stress reduction and to boost brain function.

The students were split into two groups so that half received mindfulness meditation training while the other half received relaxation technique training.

Before and at the end of two weeks, after 5 hours and 30 minutes of sessions, the students received brain scans and filled out questionnaires.

They also had carbon monoxide readings taken and their smoking amounts and habits documented.

Even though many of the students said they smoked the same number of cigarettes before and after the training, for those who received mindfulness meditation, an measure of carbon dioxide percentage in their lungs showed a 60 per cent reduction in smoking over two weeks after the study.

Lead study author Yi-Yuan Tang, a professor of psychological sciences at Texas Tech University, said: 'The students changed their smoking behaviour but were not aware of it.

'When we showed the data to a participant who said they had smoked 20 cigarettes, this person checked their pocket immediately and was shocked to find 10 left.

'We then measured intention to see if it correlated with smoking changes and found there was no correlation. 

'But if you improve the self-control network in the brain and moderate stress-reactivity, then it's possible to reduce smoking.'

However Professor Tang added: 'Even though one therapy works on something, you cannot say this therapy is better than others.

'We can only get a full picture through systematic research and practice, but I think this is a field with a lot of promise and that we should be open minded.' 

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