Quitting smoking can lift your mood

(Joe Hamilton Photography/shutterstock.com)

Smokers, you don't likely need more reasons to stub out your cigarettes, but here's some encouraging news: quitting smoking, or even trying to quit, will not only improve your health but can mend your mood, according to a new study.

Announced in a December 2 news release, the study tracked symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit smoking. Interestingly, study subjects described themselves as "never happier" as when they were successful at quitting, for however long that was. This counters the assumption that giving up smoking, often considered a stress-coping mechanism for many people, leads to better health but often at a psychological cost.

"The assumption has often been that people might smoke because it has antidepressant properties and that if they quit it might unmask a depressive episode," said corresponding author Christopher Kahler and professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in the US in the release. "What's surprising is that at the time when you measure smokers' moods, even if they've only succeeded for a little while, they are already reporting less symptoms of depression." The study was published online in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Learn more about the study: http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/24/ntr.ntq213

Ready to take your last few puffs? Here is a good start:
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco/givingup/
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/tobacco/smoking
http://smokefree.gov/
http://smokefree.nhs.uk/

Watch this video: http://www.videojug.com/interview/the-benefits-of-quitting-smoking-2