Chewing Gum and Smoking
Chewing
gum, instead of smoking a cigarette, may effectively reduce stress and nicotine
withdrawal symptoms.
Many smokers report they usually light up when they
feel stressed because smoking makes them feel calmer. Researchers now believe many smokers are
dependent on cigarettes as a way to cope with their stress. When smokers are not able to smoke during
times of stress they tend to suffer withdrawal symptoms such as irritability
and nervousness. With widespread smoking
restrictions in the U.S.
many smokers are not able to use smoking as a means of dealing with their
stress. One popular alternative to
smoking is chewing gum, but is chewing gum an effective way to deal with
stress? Even if it is, will a smoker
experience withdrawal symptoms if he or she chews gum instead of smokes? To explore these questions, researchers from Oklahoma
State University
What was the research about?
Forty-five participants, who smoked
at least 16 cigarettes per day, were recruited for the study. All participants began the study by smoking
one cigarette of their preferred brand.
After their cigarette all participants completed a series of
questionnaires that measured their urge to smoke, their withdrawal symptoms and
how much stress they were experiencing (the Time 1 measure). To create feelings of stress, the
experimenters told participants they would soon have to give a 3-minute speech
on their body and physical appearance, and the speech would be videotaped. Immediately after they learned about the speech,
participants were either told to smoke one cigarette, chew one piece of gum or
do nothing. While they smoked or chewed
their gum they filled out another set of the questionnaires (the Time 2
measure). Participants then spent 2
minutes mentally preparing for their speech and then filled out another set of
questionnaires (the Time 3 measure). At
this point participants actually gave their speech for 3 minutes and then
filled out the questionnaires again (the Time 4 measure). Finally, following a 10-minute rest period,
participants filled out another set of questionnaires (the Time 5 measure).
The results showed that participants who smoked,
and those who chewed gum, experienced fewer withdrawal symptoms than the
control group during the last measure (Time 5).
In other words, chewing gum was just as effective at curbing withdrawal
symptoms as actually smoking a cigarette was.
The results also showed there were no differences in feelings of stress
at any of the measurement times.
Therefore, neither smoking nor chewing gum reduced feelings of stress
compared to the control group. The
interesting thing was these results were obtained even though participants who
chewed gum still had an urge to smoke.
Despite feeling an urge to smoke, the gum-chewing participants still
didn’t experience any more withdrawal symptoms or feelings of stress than the
smoking participants did.
Why should it matter to me?
Smoking has been shown to be bad for a person’s
health, which makes quitting a potentially life-altering decision. Quitting smoking, however, is a difficult
thing to do for many people. The results
of this study offer some hope that there are alternatives to smoking when a
person feels stressed. Chewing gum may
be a healthier substitute that also helps a person avoid
withdrawal symptoms when they can’t smoke.
Source: Britt, Dana M.; Cohen, Lee M.; Collins
Jr., Frank L.; Cohen, Michelle L. (2001). Cigarette Smoking & Chewing Gum:
Response to a Laboratory-Induced Stressor. Health Psychology. 20, 361-368.
