If you’re trying to quit smoking, try a brisk walk or bike ride to curb your craving for a cigarette.
Researchers found that just one workout can reduce the urge to light up. But the type of exercise you do and how you do it makes a big difference.
High-intensity, aerobic exercise is most effective at reducing people’s cigarette cravings, a review of 59 randomized controlled trials involving more than 9,000 adults found.
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“Single-bout exercise reduced acute cravings immediately and up to 30 minutes post-exercise, but not longer-term cravings,” the authors of the study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, reported.
The research team highlighted other key findings from their study of “exercise-based interventions for smoking cessation.”
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Exercise training made people between 15% and 21% more likely to abstain from smoking than those who didn’t exercise, the authors found.
Regular exercise also caused smokers to cut back by an average of two cigarettes per day.
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In addition to being a free and accessible method for reducing smoking, exercise is also effective at reducing anxiety and stress, which drive many people to smoke.
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The authors suggest that because exercise boosts feel-good hormones, such as dopamine, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol, smokers who work out feel less inclined to use nicotine as a brain reward.
Exercise should be integrated into other smoking cessation programs to enhance quit success, the authors concluded.
They also noted that none of the trials addressed vaping and recommended that future research target the use of electronic cigarettes.
