14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, smokers tend to improve their self-control by smoking. Who would have thought? Scientists say that self-control is an exhaustible virtue, which needs to be replenished from time to time. Cigarettes appear to be able to lead to this end for smokers.
Managing one's emotions, behaviors and desires is essential for keeping stress in check, and also for improving behaviors. But smokers have an ace up their sleeve, so to speak, since they can replenish their self-control abilities by lighting one up.
The new investigation, led by researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center, was carried out on 132 smokers, PsychCentral reports. “Our goal was to study whether tobacco smoking affects an individual’s self-control resources,” lead author Bryan W. Heckman, MA, explains.
“We found that smoking did have a restorative effect on an individual’s depleted self-control resources. Moreover, smoking restored self-control, in part, by improving smokers’ positive mood,” he adds. Talk about the twisted connections our minds make!