You want stop smoking without risking a relapse? So start by gradually reducing your tobacco consumption before you quit the last cigarette. Indeed, according to Danish researchers who observed the brain activity of regular smokers during their first hours of quitting, quitting smoking too abruptly can plunge the brain into a state comparable to a form of dementia.
“After 12 hours without tobacco, cerebral blood flow and brain oxygen consumption had indeed fallen by 17%. A situation characteristic of people with dementia (such as Alzheimer’s disease)” explains Prof. Albert Gjedde, neuroscience researcher at Department of Neurosciences and Pharmacology from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). According to the researchers, this is what pushes some ex-smokers to plunge again: they smoke to erase the withdrawal symptoms, which are too difficult to bear and to maintain the activity of their brain, used to the action of nicotine.
“It can be a pretty unpleasant experience, and that’s probably one of the reasons it can be very difficult to quit on the first try,” adds Prof Gjedde.
Danish researchers compare nicotine to other pharmacologically active substances, such as antidepressants. “The results of our scans suggest that it is probably a good idea to quit smoking gradually. Simply to avoid the worst withdrawal symptoms that make it so difficult to make the decision to quit smoking.” However, Professor Gjedde admits that he does not know how long it takes for the brain of a former smoker to regain its normal blood flow. “We think it may take weeks or months but we don’t know for sure.”
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