Quitting Smoking is the Best Health Decision... and an Innovative Technique That May Help You

SadaNews - Smoking is a primary cause of death, killing 6 million people annually, and leads to comprehensive health destruction by damaging all body organs. The main damages include heart diseases, strokes, lung and laryngeal cancer, among many others.

Thus, quitting smoking is the best health decision a smoker can make.

In a notable development, an American study, the results of which were published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, revealed an innovative therapeutic technique that may help smokers quit smoking by targeting specific brain circuits using non-surgical magnetic stimulation.

Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina explained that this technique could represent a new key to breaking the addiction cycle.

Two Main Systems

The study focused on understanding how to restore balance within the brain between two main systems: the desire and reward system, and the behavior control and decision-making system.

The researchers relied on a technique known as "repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation" (rTMS), a non-invasive technique that uses precise magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain without the need for surgical intervention or medications. This technique aimed to modify neural activity in areas associated with nicotine addiction.

How Does It Work?

The technique works by sending focused magnetic pulses to the cerebral cortex, specifically targeting areas responsible for controlling behavior and decision-making, such as the lateral prefrontal cortex, alongside areas linked to desire and reward.

These pulses help activate neuronal cells or modify their activity, aiding in restoring balance between the "self-control" system and the "desire" system.

The study included a group of adult smokers who were divided into groups that underwent 15 therapeutic sessions over three weeks, with brain imaging used to accurately locate stimulation sites.

Results indicated that stimulating the self-control area of the brain, known as the DLPFC, led to a reduction in smoking by more than 11 cigarettes per day, along with a significant decrease in the desire to smoke and a reduction in carbon monoxide levels in the body, which is a biological indicator of reduced smoking, compared to the group that received a placebo treatment or was targeted in other brain areas. The positive effects of the treatment continued for at least a month after the sessions ended.

Brain images also revealed increased activity in self-control areas, contrasted with decreased activity in reward areas related to addiction, which directly reflected participants' behavior.

According to the researchers, enhancing the activity of control centers in the brain increases an individual's ability to resist the urge to smoke, while the activity of areas linked to reward and addiction gradually declines. From this perspective, the technique does not rely on directly suppressing desire but on "retraining" the brain to become more capable of regulating addictive behavior naturally.

They also believed that the results pave the way for wider trials that could make brain stimulation a supportive therapeutic tool for quitting smoking alongside medications and behavioral therapy, especially for individuals who have not succeeded with traditional treatments.