Giving Smokers the Time to Quit

June 27th, 2009 | by admin |

Even for smokers who want to stop, quitting cold turkey is a daunting task that’s usually unsuccessful—only about 4 in 100 people who try this method still aren’t smoking a year later. To improve your chances of remaining smoke-free, try establishing a strict smoking schedule in the weeks before quitting.

A method called scheduled reduction, described in the June Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, works like this: Divide the minutes you are awake each day by the number of cigarettes you ordinarily smoke. The result is the time you wait between cigarettes. The trick is allowing yourself to smoke only on schedule—if you miss your appointed time by more than five minutes, you wait until your next one. The following week, make a new schedule using one third fewer cigarettes, which stretches the time between smokes. Make another one-third reduction during the third week, then quit completely on the fourth.

By following this method, twice as many volunteers were still not smoking a year later, compared to those who quit cold turkey. What’s more, they reported far less tension, fatigue, and nicotine withdrawal.

By having a cigarette only at predetermined times, smokers learn to break their associations between cigarettes and mood, stress, or habits like having a cup of coffee, says author Dr. Paul Cinciripini, director of smoking cessation programs at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He believes that gradually increasing the interval between cigarettes gives smokers time to try out different strategies that help them learn to cope with their urge to smoke so they aren’t overwhelmed when they stop completely.

Since the paper was just published, smokers who want to quit won’t be able to find formal programs that incorporate this method for awhile. “Probably not until I write my book. If I ever get the time,” Cinciripini added.

the New England Journal of Medicine