Does Text Messaging Really Help Stop Smoking?
from the or-is-it-just-the- dept
There's been some buzz recently about a new study suggesting that text messaging helps young smokers quit. The study found that nearly twice as many smokers ended up quitting when they were sent regular text message reminders or encouragement, compared to a control group. Of course, people shouldn't get so excited that text messaging is really a way to stop smoking. It was still only 28% of those in the program who actually quit -- and the study had problems following up with many users six months later to see if they had continued to avoid smoking. Also, while the focus here is on text messaging, I'm reminded of someone I knew who quit smoking by going to a hypnotist. Rather than being "hypnotized," he was told to tie a string around his finger, and every time he wanted to smoke, to look at that finger as a reminder that he was quitting. That process worked as well -- and really suggests that just doing something different to remind you of the habit you're trying to break will help. Text messaging just happens to be one method for doing so -- but probably has no real special powers of any other "different" thing designed to remind you to quit. That doesn't mean aspiring smoking quitters shouldn't try something similar, as the reminder factor does seem to help some people -- but, it's hard to impart magical quitting capabilities to text messages in particular.
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Behavior modification
Basically, all it involved was keeping a diary of when you smoked, and what the circumstances were (mood, time of day, etc.) And then gradually try to do something else in response to those circumstances. (For a while, my mom would often suck on a hard candy instead, for instance.) Sounds to me like text messaging is just another "something else" option.
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Substitution
It makes sense though, purely on the principle of substituting pretty much anything for a smoke.
I've been using sunflower seeds.
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Here's a site that's doing exactly that!
Check it out www.quitext.com
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Quit smoking
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