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Exercise Can Help You to Give up Smoking

By WLR Guest Writer, Cara Frost-Sharratt

A new study has discovered that vigorous exercise can have a positive impact on the success rate of women who are trying to give up smoking. The findings seem pretty conclusive, with women who exercised being twice as likely to successfully kick the habit and stay non-smokers.

Female smokers often cite weight gain as one of the major obstacles to giving up smoking. A slow-down in your metabolic rate once the nicotine has gone does indeed mean that some people will put on weight.

However, it’s as much to do with habit as anything else. Food is often used as a cigarette substitute when your mouth and hands are feeling idle and the cravings kick in.

WLR says . . .

The fear of weight gain has put many women off any attempts to give up smoking. It provides an excuse that has almost become folkloric. People play Chinese whispers about friends of friends who piled on the pounds as soon as their last cigarette was extinguished.

However, this weight gain theory is part and parcel of all the health issues surrounding smoking and it can easily become a self-perpetuating cycle. Whilst it’s easy to see that a biscuit or sweet is a just reward for ignoring the deadlier nicotine cravings, it can easily spiral out of control.

By incorporating exercise into your quitting programme from the offset, you should see some impressive results in all areas of your life. 

A comprehensive exercise regime will have a knock-on effect and will be beneficial in so many ways.

Tips to Give up Smoking

Firstly, it’s a great way to keep thoughts of cigarettes out of your head. Let’s face it; you’re hardly likely to be gasping for a cigarette when you’re too busy gasping for air in a high-impact aerobics class.

Exercise can also help to relieve stress and depression, which makes it the ideal antidote during stressful periods when good intentions can easily fall by the wayside.

The other obvious offshoot of using exercise as part of your quitting campaign is that you should actually lose weight while giving up, rather than putting any on. This will do wonders for your self-esteem, as well as intrinsically linking exercise with quitting in your psyche, helping you to stay smoke-free.

To really benefit from the positive long-term effects of rigorous exercise, it’s a good idea to sign up for a course of classes. Pay in advance then you’ll be more likely to attend every one! Better still, find an exercise buddy and you can encourage each other in your progress.

Useful Links

Go Smoke Free– NHS run Website to help you give up smoking

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