The Real Reason Why People Can't Stop Smoking

By admin June 16, 2014 10:49

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A study at Penn State University is trying to unveil the real reasons why people can’t stop smoking.

According to Mail Online, how easy a person finds giving up smoking could be determined by the amount of activity in the reward centre of their brain.

There are those who can quit after one day while others who simply can’t quit.

The U.S. scientists found they could predict how effective a reward-based quitting strategy would be in an individual by studying their brain activity.

Those who exhibit the weakest response to rewards are least likely to quit the habit. This applies to even when they are offered money to give up the habit.

The researchers recruited 44 smokers to examine brain reward centre responses to monetary reward in those expecting to smoke and in those who were not, and the subsequent willingness of the smokers to forego a cigarette in an effort to earn more money.

The participants, who were between the ages of 18 and 45, all reported that they smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day for the past 12 months.

They were instructed to abstain from smoking and from using any products containing nicotine for 12 hours prior to arriving for the experiment.