Just quit - you're more likely to succeed

Jan 29 2006

According to British scientists smokers who suddenly decide to quit immediately, without making plans about how or when, are far more likely to succeed.

Robert West, a professor of psychology at University College London says though this appears contrary to what many experts and others believe, that in order to succeed a smoker must plan and prepare for the quitting, it is not necessarily true.

In his research West and his colleague Taj Sohal surveyed 1,900 current and ex-smokers in England concerning their efforts to knock the habit on the head and discovered that almost half of all attempts to quit were completely spontaneous.

They also found that smokers who decided to quit and stopped immediately were 50 to 60 percent more likely to succeed.

West does say that the findings do not imply that planned attempts to quit are counterproductive, but suggests that the state of mind and motivation of the smoker is far more of a factor when it comes to how successful the attempt to quit will be.

West encourages those smokers who have not managed to quit to keep trying and says the number of times you have tried to quit in the past isn't related to how likely you are to succeed in the future.

It is says West just another roll of the dice.

The research is published in the British Medical Journal.