Single workout cuts cravings, offering new hope for smokers trying to quit

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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.

A woman runs on a paved surface toward a bright sunlight and clouds.

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.

A man takes a drag from a cigarette while smoke surrounds him.

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.

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Exercise should be integrated into other smoking cessation programs to enhance quit success, the authors concluded.