Quitting Makes You Nicer

Quitting smoking makes you healthier AND it makes you nicer. And it turns out that while blacks have a harder time quitting, there is no difference in the quitting ability between the sexes.

Once you DO quit, you’ll not only SMELL nicer, you’ll BE nicer. Researchers have found evidence that shows those who quit smoking show improvements in their overall personality. And who would WANT to smoke, anyway, with all those nasty ingredients in cigarettes?

Psychologist Andrew Littlefield says, "The data indicate that for some young adults smoking is impulsive. That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards over long term negative consequences. They might say, ‘I know smoking is bad for me, but I’m going to do it anyway.’ However, we find individuals who show the most DEcreases in impulsivity also are more likely quit smoking. If we can target anti-smoking efforts at that impulsivity, it may help the young people stop smoking."

In his study, which compared people aged 18-35 who smoked with those who had quit smoking, he found that individuals who smoked were higher in two distinct personality traits during young adulthood: impulsivity (acting without thinking about the consequences) and neuroticism (being emotionally negative and anxious, most of the time).

Littlefield found that those with higher levels of impulsivity and neuroticism were more likely to engage in detrimental behaviors, such as smoking. However, he ALSO found that those who quit smoking had the biggest DECLINES in these two unpleasant personality traits.

Another recent study challenged an enduring belief that women were less successful than men in quitting smoking. The study found convincing evidence that across all of the age groups, "there (is) relatively little difference in cessation between the sexes."

And what’s sex for, anyway? It’s not just for fun– a protein in semen acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation. Researcher Gregg Adams says, "We now know that (male sex) glands produce large amounts of a protein that has a direct effect on the female."

Interestingly enough, there IS a difference between the sexes when it comes to losing weight–men find it easier than women because their bodies, percentage-wise, contain a greater proportion of muscle to fat. Find out this fact, and other important information about how to lose weight, in Anne Strieber’s famous diet book. The download has been reduced $2, just in time for bathing suit season, so it now costs less than $3!