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Young Smokers Have an Advantage When It Comes To Stopping the Habit

Smoking is a habit that all who are hooked into will want to stop but as the adage goes that ‘a habit is a disease’, then most of them will seek for medical solutions that will help them out of the risky behavior which is also money consuming. Teenagers have an advantage because they can get out of it simply by engaging in exercises. Walking for about twenty minutes in a day will help them to reduce their rate of smoking, and when practiced for a long time they can eventually avoid smoking completely. The best thing is for them to participate in a smoking fitness program where they can extend the time of doing the exercises.

The Discovery of the Solution

This solution was discovered after some researchers at George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) conducted a study. The study brought together 233 teenagers from nineteen high schools in West Virginia, where the rate of smoking is the highest in the country. These volunteers smoked daily and engaged in other risky habits also, which is normal to young smokers. According to Kimberly Horn who is an author and an Associate Dean of Research at the university, physical inactivity is related to smoking among teenagers. The study revealed that those teenagers smoked ½ a packet on weekdays and a full packet of cigarettes on weekends, which is expected because they are mostly free on weekends.

The Program That Smokers Should Follow

The report on the study concluded that teenagers should be taken through smoking cessation intervention coupled with the fitness program. When a teenager participates in a complete program fully the chances of stopping the habit of smoking are very high. The teenagers were taken through programs where some were only restrained from smoking through smoking cessation programs and maybe being lectured to about the negative effects of smoking. Those who coupled the cessation programs with activities like walking for the twenty minutes in a day generated results of reduction in the rate of their smoking, while other cut down the smoking a great deal.

Other States Should Implement the Programs

The author pointed out that if 20 minutes can have the positive results changing the smoking habits of the teenagers, then increasing the exercise time will have better effects on behavioral change. The study also confirms that the study conducted to smokers in Virginia is not limited to this region but can be implemented and be effective in other states. The reason for the positive results cannot be ascertained but it is believed it might be due to the release of endorphins when a person is involved in a particular physical activity. This helps the young smokers to deal with the craving of smoking. It also helps to lower the withdrawal symptoms.