According to the team of scientists at the National Health Research Institute and China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan, smokers who exercise are likely to find it easier to quit successfully. The team carefully studied the health and habits of 434,190 people in Taiwan for a long period of 12 years, from 1996 to 2008. The research team also said getting just 15 minutes of exercise a day made smokers 55% more likely to quit than people who weren’t active at all. Moreover, after quitting the cigarette life expectancy was found to increase by 5.6 years on average, and the risk of death was reduced by 43%.
The fact of the matter is that exercise can help you stop smoking and make it easier to stay quit for life after you’ve finally stopped smoking. There are many reasons how exercise can help you to quit smoking.
Exercise or physical workout is very helpful to the human body, blood flow, heart disease prevention, positive mood, sense of well-being, etc. When you stop smoking and start exercising you not only help your body to recover from nicotine dependence but also get great success in reducing the cravings to smoke. If you regularly do exercise after quitting smoking your appearance, lungs, mood, and overall health will be much better.
Exercise acts as a great agent for Detoxification :: When you stop smoking your body begins to ‘dump’ nicotine primarily through urine and sweat. Exercising or any physical workout causes you to sweat profusely, thus cleansing your body of nicotine more quickly.
Our brain naturally produces neurologically transmitted chemicals such as dopamine, endorphins, etc. that send messages to the sensory department of your brain. In the early stages of withdrawal from nicotine, your brain is learning to cope without cigarettes and produce these chemicals. When you exercise, you are forcing your body to naturally produce endorphins and other chemicals that may have not have otherwise been manufactured that early under the influence of nictoine withdrawal symptoms.
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Normally people smoke to avoid idleness. By involving yourself in exercise or workout you will leave less room in your day-today life to be tempted to smoke a cigarette.
“Our message is to quit and exercise – to do both is the best, we want smokers to do as much exercise as possible” Professor Chi Pang Wen.