Quitting smoking is good for health. Even the mental - The Republic

MILAN – Quitting smoking is good for not only the physical but also the mind. The link between psychological well-being and “victory” against the smoke was discovered by Washington University School of Medicine , which has just published the results of his research on Journal of Psychological Medicine .

“Clinicians – explains the first author of the study, Patricia Cavazos-Rehg – tend to defer on the smoking habits of the patients, and to treat such cases in its own pathologies such as depression, addiction to alcohol or drug problems, allowing patients to self-medicate with cigarettes if necessary, “to dampen the mood swings or the crisis from addiction. According to data collected by the study “about 40% of heavy smokers suffer or have ever suffered from anxiety disorders or mood. Moreover, 50% had problems with alcohol, while 24% of them with the drugs. “

During the study, 42% of those who smoked continued to have mood problems, compared with 29% of those who in the meantime had stopped. The problems with alcohol, however, were reduced from 28% to 18%, and those with drugs from 16% to 5%. The study was based on data from 4,800 smokers: what researchers have found is that “quitting smoking, or at least greatly reduce the number of cigarettes, is linked to a significantly better mental health, and is associated with an increased risk low to develop disorders such as depression or addictions to alcohol and drugs. ” For this, he concludes Cavazos-Rehg, “when a patient is ready to face his psychiatric problem, what is the right time because the doctor also addresses the stop with the smoke.”