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Given Up on the New Year's Resolution?

January 31, 2003

New research reveals why smokers find it so difficult to quit

Despite widespread knowledge of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, nearly 30% of the population still smoke. It can be extremely difficult to stop and fewer than 20% are successful, even with the use of nicotine replacement. The Smoking Research Group at Goldsmiths College, University of London has been finding out why smokers find it so difficult to quit.

Goldsmiths' researchers believe that it may be due to abnormal levels of dopamine in the brain. Regular smokers become addicted to nicotine, which causes the release of dopamine, but when people stop smoking dopamine levels decline. As dopamine is thought to be important in motivation, particularly our ability to perceive things as rewarding and to act in a way that leads to obtaining rewards, smokers who are trying to quit may find things they normally enjoy, less appealing or pleasurable.

In the research by Goldsmiths* smokers were tested twice, after smoking and after an abstinence of at least 10 hours. The abstaining smokers made significantly more errors in the task given to them, were less responsive to a financial incentive, and reported finding things less pleasurable. After smoking a cigarette, performance on all measures improved to levels similar to the non-smokers.

If smokers experience a reduced capacity to respond to or enjoy alternative rewards, then their craving for a cigarette may increase and it becomes more likely that they will revert to smoking. Goldsmiths' researchers are now trying to find out whether this deficit recovers over time and whether it can predict relapse to smoking.

If you are a smoker and thinking about quitting, why not take part in this research? Contact Lynne Dawkins at Goldsmiths College on 020 7717 2983 or e-mail L.Dawkins@gold.ac.uk

*published in Biological Psychiatry (2002), Powell, Dawkins and Davis

Goldsmiths College, University of London

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