14 DAY TRIAL // In a new study published in yesterday's issue of the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, researchers suggest that smokers looking to kick the habit give mindfulness meditation a try.
Their arguments: evidence indicates that mindfulness meditation improves self-control, which in turn means having an easier time resisting the intense cravings that come with nicotine withdrawal.
“Early evidence suggests that exercises aimed at increasing self-control, such as mindfulness meditation, can decrease the unconscious influences that motivate a person to smoke,” the researchers explain.
It all comes down to what happens in the brain
In the report detailing their work, the scientists explain that, as shown by recent studies, most smokers display reduced activity in specific regions of the brain associated with self-control.
To test whether the self-control of smokers is forever crippled or can perhaps be improved, the research team carried out a series of experiments with the help of volunteers.
Thus, they enrolled 27 smokers and 33 non-smokers in a body-mind training program. The volunteers were split into groups so that half learned mindfulness meditation and the others relaxation techniques.
After attending such classes for a couple of weeks, the study participants who smoked were tested to determine the carbon dioxide percentage in their lungs, Science Daily tells us.
Much to their surprise, the scientists documented an average 60% drop in smoking in the case of the volunteers who were made to attend mindful meditation classes.
Some volunteers weren't even aware they smoked less
Interestingly, the Texas Tech University and University of Oregon researchers behind this investigation claim that, of the volunteers involved in this study, some did not even realize they were smoking less than they used to. Rather, they cut back quite involuntarily.
Given the outcome of these experiments, the scientists argue that mindfulness meditation or other techniques to improve self-control might help people ditch addictive behaviors. Then again, they warn this might not work for everybody.
“Mindfulness meditation, as well as other strategies that are aimed at strengthening self-control, are likely to be useful for the management of addiction, but not necessarily for everybody,” senior study author Nora Volkow wished to stress.