One of the hardest things to do for some is to quit smoking. If there are already numbers of alternatives created just for you to give up smoking from nicotine patch and cold turkey to vaping and many more, yet still not working for you, may be it is time for you to blame no one but your brain.
A new study from Medical University of South Carolina found out that there is a brain circuit responsible for habitual or automatic behavior like driving or smoking. Lead author Brett Froeliger explained that smokers have been repeating the same routine for many times a day over years, which means that they already encountered a lot of trials from their experience. Simply put, he said that smoking becomes automated.
Good news is that you can stop your smoking habits because the brain has the inhibitory control network. According to MSN, researchers used MRI to test whether or not the pathway of 81 adults affects the cession of smoking.
It was found out that people will most likely quit smoking successfully if they can build a stronger communication in the said circuit. Meanwhile, it was explained that it becomes an automated behavior through time. The urge to smoke starts just like the same way when the foot of the driver moves to the gas pedal automatically when the stoplight turns to green.
Another study was also conducted among 26 smokers-participants. They are given their favorite cigarettes, as well as lighter and ashtray. If they can go through the challenge, they can get $1 for every six minutes.
The purpose of the study is to provide a better understanding why there are many people who can hardly quit smoking. It is also worth noting that each individual has differences in brain biology.