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

If you’re trying toquit 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 exerciseis 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.

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Aerobic exercise is the most effective form of exercise for reducing cravings for cigarettes, researchers found.(iStock)

The research team highlighted otherkey findingsfrom 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.

Researchers found that exercise curbs people’s cigarette cravings for up to 30 minutes after they stop exercising.(iStock)

Regular exercise also caused smokers to cut back by an average oftwo cigarettes per day.

reducing anxiety and stress, which drive many people to smoke. 

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.

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Exercise releases similar feel-good brain chemicals that people get from cigarettes, researchers suggested.(iStock)

They also noted that none of the trials addressed vaping and recommended that future research target the use of electronic cigarettes.