Not only does their health improve, but people who quit smoking get a boost in their quality of life, new research finds.

"Quitting is hard, but if you can actually do it, there are a lot of benefits that you might not have thought about," said study author Megan E. Piper, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and its Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention.

Researchers looked at 1,504 people who took part in a smoking cessation trial in the United States. The authors assessed each participant's smoking status and quality of life one year and three years after the smoking cessation trial ended.

"Our findings suggest that, over the long-term, individuals will be happier and more satisfied with their lives if they stop smoking than if they do not," the researchers wrote. "This research provides substantial evidence that quitting smoking benefits well-being, compared to continuing smoking."

The study's "quality of life" measures included the participant's health, personal relationships, self-regard and philosophy of life.

"Smokers might believe that quitting will decrease life satisfaction or quality of life — because they believe it disrupts routines, interferes with relationships, leads to a loss of smoking-related pleasure, or because cessation deprives them of a coping strategy," the study authors wrote.

But despite such concerns, the researchers found that those who quit experienced no such deterioration due to quitting.

On the contrary, quitters scored higher on measures of overall quality of life, health-related quality of life and positive emotions, both one year and three years after cessation, compared with those who continued to smoke.

Successful quitters also reported that they felt they had fewer stressors by the third year, according to the study, which was published online in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine on Dec. 9

Piper said. "This is just a little bit of additional scientific evidence that things will get better if you can get through those first couple of months."

A new approach to smoking cessation has revealed that it can help overcome the ‘hand-to-mouth’ habit that makes it more difficult for smokers to quit.

A survey of 353 UK smokers aged 35+ commissioned by nicotine free non-prescription smoking cessation aid NicoBloc, reports that 71% of the UK smokers questioned said they missed having something in their hands, when they were trying to quit. It’s estimated that an average 20 a day smoker will make the ‘hand-to-mouth’ action 73,000 times a year, adding extra psychological pressure on the would-be quitter.

The UK currently has around 10 million smokers  with approximately only 4% successfully quitting in the wake of the 2007 smoking ban in workplaces and public  places.  Of the  353  smokers  questioned for the survey, 78% who had all repeatedly tried and failed to quit reported that the habit of smoking was harder to give up than the actual chemical addiction.

Dr Lynne Dawkins, Senior Psychology Lecturer at the University of East London comments:    “The hand-to-mouth action of smoking through associative learning mechanisms can become a deeply entrenched habit. The habitual act of reaching for a cigarette, coupled with reduced impulse control during a quit attempt, may constitute a strong relapse factor. Any smoking cessation aids which more closely resemble a cigarette could help more smokers to quit.”

NicoBloc is a two-step approach, first helping to break the addiction to nicotine and then helping to give up the physical cigarette and hand-to- mouth    habit.    An alternative to NRT and drug based smoking cessation methods,    NicoBloc is    a fluid    applied to the end of a    cigarette filter immediately before smoking. The fluid works by moistening the cigarette filter, cooling the smoke down as it is drawn through. The tar and nicotine vapour molecules condense back into solid form, sticking to the filter material instead of being passed through to the smoker.

Designed as a gradual reduction method, the amount of nicotine that is inhaled is gradually    reduced over a three week period. During the recommended six-week quit programme, one drop is applied in week one, two drops in week two and three drops from week three onwards. By this time up to 99% of tar and nicotine inhalation is blocked.

A previous two year study for NicoBloc called The Rosen Stop Smoking Programme followed 491 smokers over a six week period and yielded a quit success rate of 58%. Overall reduction in cigarette consumption of those that did not quit reached 77%.

Lita Huckle, 46, from Berkshire, who took part in the Rosen Stop Smoking Programme, finally quit in 1999 with the aid of NicoBloc having repeatedly failed to kick her 20 year 20-a-day habit. Since quitting, Lita has had a whole lifestyle change and is now an avid marathon runner.

Lita comments: “I had previously tried to quit before but found the lure of social smoking got in the way. When I used NicoBloc I didn’t have to quit straight away and it gave me a chance to get used to not smoking so much over a period of time before making the final break.”

NicoBloc is available in independent pharmacies and online with each pack including an instructions DVD, progress chart and a 15ml bottle which provides two weeks supply for a typical 20-a-day smoker. For further information and support visit www.nicobloc.com

Cigarette smoking is injurious to your health. It does not matter if the smoke is active or passive.  It is a well established fact that smoking causes damage to heart, lungs and blood vessels.  It also has a negative effect on fertility of both men and women. Up to 13% of infertility is caused by smoking cigarettes.  But sadly nearly 30% of women and 35% of men who are capable of reproducing smoke cigarettes.

Sperm count is reduced in men who smoke.  It has also been noticed that sperm shape and functions are abnormal in men who smoke

As far as women smokers are concerned, research results have shown that smoking has an adverse impact on fertility.  A female smoker takes more time to conceive than a woman who does not smoke.  Studies also shaw that smoking damages woman’s ovaries.  It also accelerates the loss of eggs and reproductive function.  Smoking advances the time of menopause by several years.  There are cases where it is observed that components in the smoke interfered with the ability of cells in the ovary to make estrogen.  The mothers egg will be vulnerable to genetic abnormalities due to this. Scientific studies also associate smoking with increased risk of miscarriage.  Even if the baby is born, chances are more that it will be either a premature birth or the baby will be underweight. Studies also show that there are more chromosomal abnormalities in the eggs exposed to nicotine.  Smokers have lower numbers of follicles when stimulated for In Vitro Fertilization.   Chances of an IVF pregnancy was 2.7 times higher for a non smoker compared to smoker

While men and women are adversely affected smoking, it is clear that women are more vulnerable and should take greater care.  However prospective mothers need to know more about the risks of smoking.  A survey conducted with 388 female employees in a Connecticut hospital shockingly revealed that majority of them, including female health care providers, were unfamiliar with the reproductive risks associated with smoking!

A Johns Hopkins study led by an Indian origin scientist has suggested that healthy, middle-aged smokers who take the most popular anti-smoking drug on the market have a 72 per cent increased risk of being hospitalized with a heart attack or other serious heart problems compared to those taking a placebo.

"People want to quit smoking to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease but in this case they're taking a drug that increases the risk for the very problems they're trying to avoid," said Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lead author of the research.

In the study, Singh and his colleagues reviewed and analyzed 14 double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trials involving more than 8,200 healthy people who received either varenicline (made by Pfizer and sold in the US under the brand-name Chantix) or a placebo. Whereas the number of people who died in each group was the same (seven), the increased risk of a major harmful cardiovascular event requiring hospitalization such as a heart attack or arrhythmia was 72 per cent in the varenicline arms.

Singh's study found that varenicline substantially increased the risk of a serious cardiovascular event even among smokers without heart disease.

"I think our new research shifts the risk-benefit profile of varenicline," said Singh.

"People should be concerned. They don't need Chantix to quit and this is another reason to consider avoiding Chantix altogether," added Singh.

The study has been described in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.