Recent research conducted by Dr. Berkman in California has
shown that text messages may help smokers quit the addiction, predominantly if
they are personalized to the individual; the study was conducted on 27 heavy
smokers.
In the study, a well-designed
MRI was used to determine the brain sections most dynamic in controlling
desires to smoke, which examiners described as "a conflict that comprises
of a sequence of temporary willpower encounters." The study establish that
participants who had the most movement in the key sections of their brains
during testing were also the most likely to struggle with their aspiration to
smoke, something that was acknowledged in their responses to future text
messages.
The researchers sent
text messages to the participants to remind them about the program in which
they were indulged (quit smoking). In the text message they inquired about the
number of cigarettes they smoked between two consecutive text messages. The
study continued three weeks in which every day every contestant received eight
inquiry text messages and they had to reply the message by giving them the
answers like how many cigarettes they smoked and about their mood. In the text
message the researchers also give simple activity to the participant like water
your plant, play with your dog, and do some cooking just to keep them busy
which really help them to quit smoking.
After that MRI scans forecasted
an individual's capability to control their responses to desires, the investigators
ventured that it may be possible to customize smoking termination programs for
an individual's own capability to control their addiction.
"We are really enthusiastic
about this consequence because it means that the brain initiation we see in the
scanner is predictive of real-world consequences across a much lengthier time
span than we thought," Dr. Elliot Berkman, a professor of psychology at
the University of Oregon, said in a university news release.
The study appeared online this March 2011 in the journal Psychological Science.
In the study, Berkman
and coworkers experienced whether short text messages could be used to track
smokers' efforts to control their smoking desires. The participants were sent
eight text messages per day for three weeks prompting them to document their
ongoing smoking desires, cigarette use and temper.
The investigators established
that text messaging is at least as effective as more expensive and harder-to-use
handheld strategies used to gather such data.
"Text messaging may
be an ideal delivery mechanism for tailored interventions because it is
low-cost, most people already possess the existing hardware and the messages
can be delivered near-instantaneously into real-world situations," Dr. Berkman
said.
Well it is all about the
study of Berkman but according to me we can’t implement this idea out here in
Pakistan because we do not take our text messages seriously (ask Zubeda Apa and
Ahmad Faraz). But there is a perfect strategy which pops up in my mind that it
might be helpful if someone’s GF or BF texted him/her again and again to remind
him/her to quit smoking (believe me girls are very good at it ;-))
Jokes apart it all
depends on one’s will and determination, if someone decides that he/she really
wants to quit smoking he/she can do it by making his own strategy there is no
need to follow a specific predefine exercise or anything. It’s all depends on
you it is an old saying that where there's a will there's a way. ;-)
Whew, all that writing has got me craving for a smoke.
