5 minutes to Butt Out

5 minutes of exercise seems to curb smoking desire, at least in the short run

As little as five minutes of exercise seems to help smokers curb their craving for a cigarette, a review of a dozen studies found.

The research showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

"If we found the same effects in a drug, it would immediately be sold as an aid to help people quit smoking," said Dr. Adrian Taylor, the study's lead author and professor of exercise and health psychology at the University of Exeter.

Taylor and colleagues reviewed 12 papers looking at the connection between exercise and nicotine deprivation. They focused on exercises that could be done outside a gym, such as walking and isometrics, or the flexing and tensing of muscles. According to their analysis, just five minutes of exercise was often enough to help smokers overcome their immediate need for a nicotine fix.

After various types of moderate physical exertion, researchers asked people to rate their need for a cigarette. Those who had exercised reported a reduced desire to smoke.

"What's surprising is the strength of the effect," said Dr. Robert West, professor of health psychology at University College London, who was not involved in the study. "They found that the acute effects of exercise were as effective as a nicotine patch."

West cautioned that it was unknown how long the effects of exercise would last. "You could in theory use exercise to deal with short bouts of nicotine cravings, but we don't know if it would help in the longer term," he said. It is likely that exercise would have to be combined with a larger strategy of other anti-smoking techniques to be successful in helping people quit.

Nearly anything that distracts people from smoking is thought to help, but scientists have long suspected that exercise might have a more potent effect. Taylor theorized that exercise could produce the mood-enhancing hormone dopamine, which could, in turn, reduce smokers' nicotine dependence.

Still, experts were not convinced about the study's practical applications. "Doctors can tell patients to do things until they're blue in the face, but the limiting factor may be getting people to actually take up exercise," said Dr. Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology at Queen Mary University Hospital in London. Hajek was not involved in the study.

He said that if people were taught simple exercises, including isometrics they could do at their desk, they could potentially stave off their need for a cigarette break. "When you are dying for a cigarette, you can try to exercise instead," he said.

Source: CBC.ca

New Stop Smoking Drug Approval

Stop-smoking drug wins Health Canada approval

Champix boasts 22 per cent success rate, has no nicotine base

Last Updated: Thursday, January 25, 2007 | 3:54 PM ET

Health Canada has given the nod to the first smoking-cessation drug to hit the market in a decade.

Champix — which was discovered and developed by Pfizer — is one of two quit-smoking drugs that are not designed to replace the nicotine kick that cigarettes offer.

The drug works in two ways — by cutting the pleasure of smoking and reducing the withdrawal symptoms that frequently derail smokers' efforts to quit. If a person smokes while taking Champix, the drug can reduce the sense of satisfaction associated with smoking.

Champix latches on to the same receptors in the brain that nicotine binds to when inhaled in cigarette smoke. The action leads to the release of dopamine in the pleasure centres of the brain. Taking the drug blocks any inhaled nicotine from reinforcing that effect.

Most other stop-smoking drugs are nicotine-replacement therapies, either sold by prescription or over the counter in gum, patch, lozenge, nasal spray or inhaler form. The only other prescription drug sold to help people to quit smoking is Zyban. In the United States, Champix sold under the brand name Chantix.

Champix was approved for sale in Europe in 2006.

Several studies conducted in Europe on about 2,000 smokers showed that a year after initial treatment with Champix, a little more than one in five people stayed off cigarettes. Zyban's success rate is estimated at about 16 per cent. Only eight per cent of those who were given a placebo in the study had stopped smoking after a year.

Champix treatment includes 12 weeks of taking the drug as well as smoking-cessation counselling. Pfizer said the drug's possible side-effects include nausea, abnormal dreams, constipation, flatulence and vomiting.

According to Health Canada, more than 4.5 million Canadians — or about 18 per cent of the population age 15 years and older — smoke. More than 37,000 people die prematurely each year in Canada due to tobacco use and at least 800 non-smokers die every year from exposure to second-hand smoke.

Source: CBC.ca Jan. 25/07