Quitting Smoking Harder For Women
It’s more difficult for women to quit smoking than it is for men, according to a Yale University study.
Even with her health problems, Berlin resident Pat Checko said it took her multiple tries to quit smoking.”I finally said at 40, ‘I’ve got to stop,’” she said. “But I still had a cigarette now and then.”The study, funded by women’s health research at Yale, indicates that women have a harder time quitting for good because they likely use cigarettes for emotional reasons — to manage moods and control weight — while men are less emotional smokers.
As part of the study, researchers created a stress lab and asked participants to share with them a stressful experience in their lives. They gave them an ashtray and a box of cigarettes and they told them to hold off on smoking until they couldn’t resist.The study showed that when men were stressed, it increased their craving for cigarettes.But when women were stressed, it increased their negativity and smoking was one result of that, the study showed.”Different parts of the brains of men and women may be affected,” Checko said. “We have this whole neurobiology of what’s going on in the brain.”Checko, who is also chairwoman of the Match Organization, a coalition of anti-smoking groups, and an epidemiologist, said the study makes an argument for gender-specific approaches to smoking cessation.”I think both sexes need the counseling component, but what’s in the counseling component may be different,” she said.Most states, like Massachusetts, cover counseling through Medicaid, Checko said. She said Connecticut is one of seven states that don’t cover it.For information on the study, or to learn how to participate in one, visit yalebpl.org or call 866-END-HABIT or 800-QUIT-NOW.
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