Exercising could become a valuable ally for people who want to quit smoking. Extensive analysis conducted by the University of Adelaide shows that moving helps reduce cravings, reduce tobacco consumption and improve the chances of successfully quitting.
Quitting smoking remains a challenge for millions of people
Despite the financial cost and well-known health consequences of smoking, quitting remains one of the most difficult changes to make. A smoker consuming a pack of cigarettes a day can spend almost $14,000 a year, but tobacco addiction remains a major barrier.
Globally, tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of morbidity and premature mortality, with an estimated 7 million deaths, including 1.6 million non-smokers exposed to passive smoking. At the same time, the use of electronic cigarettes has now affected more than 100 million people, while heated tobacco products are also gaining ground, particularly among younger people.
In this context, researchers from the University of Adelaide were interested in a simple and accessible solution: physical exercise.
Physical exercise reduces cravings and improves chances of success
The results come from a systematic review and meta-analysis of 59 randomized controlled trials involving more than 9,000 participants. Researchers evaluated the effects of one-time bouts of exercise as well as longer-term physical activity programs on smoking cessation, cravings, withdrawal symptoms and mood.
According to their findings, people participating in a physical activity program were 15% more likely to achieve continuous abstinence and 21% more likely to report not having smoked for a period of seven days, compared to control groups.
The researchers also observed an average drop of two cigarettes smoked per day. Even more surprising, a single exercise session immediately reduced cravings for up to 30 minutes after exercise.
Dr Ben Singh, lead researcher, believes that these results offer smokers “a practical and inexpensive tool” to support their quitting process. “Quitting smoking is one of the best things a person can do for their health, but it’s also one of the hardest“, he recalls. According to him, existing methods do not work for everyone, hence the interest in proposing simple strategies that everyone can integrate into their daily lives.
A complement to treatments, not a replacement
The authors, however, insist on an essential point: physical exercise does not replace approaches whose effectiveness has been demonstrated, such as psychological support or medications to help quit smoking.
For Carol Maher, professor and senior researcher at the University of Adelaide, physical activity can, however, be used strategically to get through the most difficult times. “Cravings can be difficult to deal with, but they often pass. Our study found that a single exercise session can reduce these cravings for 30 minutes, which can help overcome the toughest parts of trying to quit.“, she explains.
Researchers now believe that physical exercise should be considered as a complementary tool to existing smoking cessation programs. Their next step will be to evaluate how this strategy can be integrated into smoking cessation programs, whether digital, community or clinical, and determine whether it could also help people who want to quit vaping, an area for which scientific data still remains limited.