Self-help Articles

If you smoke to reduce stress, you are only adding to your stress, according to a review of psychological studies. The evidence shows that the apparent relaxant effect of smoking only reflects the reversal of the tension and irritability that develop during nicotine depletion. Far from acting as an aid for mood control, nicotine dependency seems to increase stress.

Professor Parrott reviewed studies on the smoking/stress relationship:

• first in adult smokers,
• then in novice adolescent smokers and
• lastly during smoking cessation.

For adult smokers, the research shows that the positive mood changes experienced during smoking may only reflect the reversal of unpleasant abstinence effects. "Regular smokers, therefore, experience periods of heightened stress between cigarettes, and smoking briefly restores their stress levels to normal," said Professor Parrott.

He concluded that stress may be caused by nicotine dependency, or in common language, drug addiction. "The regular smoker needs nicotine to maintain normal moods and suffers from unpleasant feelings of irritability and tension between cigarettes when his or her plasma nicotine levels are falling," explained Professor Parrott. This pattern is the same as with any other drug addiction.

Tobacco use does not alleviate stress but actually increases it.

Reference:

"Does Cigarette Smoking Cause Stress?" by Andy C. Parrott, Ph.D., American Psychologist, Vol. 54, No. 10. Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office.

This information received from the American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC.