Exercise & Giving Up Smoking

Phil, then an EFL teacher working in Korea, was up to a pack a day, two when he went out drinking. He wasn’t helped by the fact that his girlfriend was a sixty-a-day girl .

He was smoking Korean government cigarettes – which, ironically enough, were named long life!

What helped him to give up was exercise. He had always been competitive, running races, playing cricket – he liked to be the fastest, and when he was smoking he wasn’t.

“Running just stopped being fun.”

It’s perhaps something all of us have felt after exercise. I used to remember coming out of a swimming pool, feeling good and refreshed, breathing air deep into my lungs – at that time, the thought of smoking a cigarette felt horrible.

Meanwhile, smoking impedes our ability to do exercise by slowing the respiratory and ciculatory systems. When we do do exercise, though, we feel good, as the endorphins released by exercise give us the same feel good sensation as nicotine does – only this time we have the pleasure of knowing we have done something good for us.

Perhaps that’s why exercise has been proven by research to help people to quit smoking. In one study in 1999 in Center and the Division of Cardiology at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I. women smokers were found to be twice as likely to quit if they were partaking in vigourous exercise as compared to doing no exercise. Although the research focussed on women, it was thought exercise would also benefit men trying to quit. This was backed up by a 1996 Gallup poll, which also found that smokers who exercised were twice as likely to give up.

The numerous benefits of exercise include several specific to that of smokers. Smokers suffer more from depression, but exercise is effective in combatting depression. Those suffering from stress often tend to turn to cigarettes or alcohol to overcome their stress, yet exercise is better than both at relieving stress. It also helps combat the weight gain that some smokers experience when quitting cigarettes.

“Quitting smoking was horrible,” said Phil. “It was the hardest thing I have ever done. But, ultimately, smoking is just not compatible with exercise.”

If you are interested in using exercise to help you give up smoking, check out UK Charity Quit’s exercise programme for smokers.

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