Smoking Addiction and Smoking Cessation: Effects on Appetite, Stress, and Health - Essay Example

? Smoking Addiction and Smoking Cessation: Effects on Appetite, Stress, and Health 12 August Smoking can cause and have been correlated with various diseases that reduce general well-being and lead to deaths (Berlin, Chen, & Covey, 2010; Mallaina et al., 2013). According to the 2010 report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: What It Means to You of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, cigarette smoking causes 440,000 deaths every year, or one in every five deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013). The number of deaths from smoking is so staggering that it is higher than the deaths caused by “human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined,” based on the report, Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004 (CDC, 2013). Furthermore, because of healthcare costs and mortality that impact workplace productivity and general public welfare, smoking cessation programs have become pervasive across the country. This paper examines the literature on the effects of smoking addiction and smoking cessation on appetite, stress, and health. Findings of this paper showed that smoking addiction can reduce appetite at different degrees, heighten stress, and cause or increase risks for different illnesses, while smoking cessation can increase appetite without proper management of withdrawal symptoms, while it can improve mood levels and reduce health risks. Smoking Addiction: Effects on Appetite, Stress, and Health Smoking is commonly connected to the belief that it can contribute to appetite control, although the actual impact of smoking on caloric intake varies according to several studies. A number of cross-sectional studies showed that some smokers use smoking to reduce appetite. Grogan et al. (2010) showed from their survey study that many people who smoke were conscious of their appearances and weight. Their sampling of 244 respondents indicated that their weight and body image issues can affect their intention to smoke because they think that smoking can curb appetite. A survey study from Leventhal, Zvolensky, and Schmidt (2011) explored the connection between the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS) depression subdimensions and the variables of smoking frequency (number of cigarettes each day), dependence on tobacco, and motivation to smoke. They used data from a cross-sectional study of 338 people who smoked everyday and participated in a smoking cessation study. Leventhal et al. (2011) proposed that IDAS dysphoria (where dysphoria exhibits DSM-IV depression criteria) and well-being scales would be related to aforementioned smoking elements, and consequently affect other scales in IDAS. Their findings showed that: 1) participants who had high dysphoria levels were at risk for heavier smoking dependence because smokers used their cigarette addiction to manage dysphoria-related symptoms, and 2) some participants used smoking for appetite control purposes (Leventhal et al., 2011, p.674). The study is important because it showed the connection between depressive symptoms, smoking, and appetite loss, but it has limitations of showing only correlations and data depended on self-report measures that could not accurately capture the exact effects of smoking on appetite changes. Another cross-sectional, experimental study connected smoking with appetite and weight control. Gregersen et al. (2011) studied the effect of the following factors on appetite ratings: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking practices, physical activity, diet actions, and menstruation cycle. Their sampling included 178 healthy men and women, who ate an evening meal that met their individual nutritional needs. Respondents filled out visual analogue scales (VAS) several times, up until three hours, subsequent to consuming the meal. Their findings showed that gender and age affected feelings of fullness and hunger the most and that smokers felt less hungry and stayed more satiated than non-smokers (Gregersen et al., 2011, p.8). Gregersen et al. (2011) cited another study from Jessen et al. (2005), which indicated that nicotine reduces appetite and caloric intake. Oxford (2011) asserted that smoking can be seen as a form of addiction itself, which suggests that smoking may reduce appetite if smokers feel that they are filling themselves up in another way. As a self-report study, the research from Gregersen et al. (2011) did not emphasize actual caloric intake of smokers and compared that to either non-smokers or those in cessation programs. It is not an experimental or longitudinal study that can determine the causal relationship between smoking and appetite loss. One study noted, however, that though smokers may report lower caloric intake, their actual intake may differ. Perkins (1992) reviewed articles that explored the effect of smoking or nicotine intake on the human diet. She learned that five out of ten studies showed that smoking even slightly increased caloric intake (Perkins, 1992, p.194). She hypothesized that “selective bias in recall” might have reduced self-reports on dietary habits (Perkins, 1992, p.194). The study suggested that self-reports alone could not accurately show the relationship between smoking and appetite. The research has the following limitations: it lacks empirical testing of its main findings and conclusions need to be further verified using experimental and longitudinal research designs. Another study showed that cognitive style and weight concerns can impact appetite more than smoking. King, Saules, and Irish (2007) studied the effect of cognitive style on the smoking practices of 241 college women with various weight problems. They used a survey design to determine the relationship between cognitive style and smoking practices. Their findings showed that almost 47% of participants with bulimic tendencies, 27.7% of women with anorexic propensities, and 37.5% of women with weight concerns were smokers, while only 22% of women without weight issues were smokers (King et al., 2007, p.541). Weight concerns and cognitive styles affected the participants’ thinking on whether smoking helped manage weight problems (King et al., 2007, p.541). The study suggested that because some women were concerned of their weight, they connected smoking to appetite loss. Thus, cognitive style and weight issues can interact with smoking in shaping appetite loss. As for the impact of smoking on stress, studies showed a direct relationship between the two variables. Parrott and Murphy (2012) reviewed existing studies on smoking and stress. They mentioned three cross-sectional studies which indicated that smoking increases stress levels for smokers (Parrott & Murphy, 2012, pp.151-152). Parrott and Murphy (2012) used the deprivation reversal model, which predicted that adolescents who smoke would suffer from worse moodiness and everyday stress than non-smokers, while smoking cessation can reduce stress and stabilize moods (Parrott & Murphy, 2012, p.152). Another study connected adolescent smoking with early adult anxiety. Moylan et al. (2013) investigated the effect of smoking in adolescence on the development of early adult anxiety symptoms. Using data from a community-based data, their findings showed that adolescent smoking increased risks for adult anxiety. These studies suggested that contrary to belief of some smokers that it is relaxing, smoking can actually impact the body negatively by inducing anxiety and moodiness. Apart from stress, smoking has been documented to have diverse negative effects on human health. A number of studies demonstrated smoking’s ill effects on respiratory organs. Papaioannou et al. (2010) showed through a cross-sectional study that smoking contributed to “airway and systemic inflammation and oxidative stress” for non-asthmatic and asthmatic smoking respondents, respectively (p.103). Acute smoking had worse effects on oxidative stress and airway inflammation among asthmatic smokers (Papaioannou et al., 2010, p.103). In another research, Stein et al. (2008) conducted a case-control study, which demonstrated that cigarette smoking increased risks for different kinds of cancer for black South Africans. Smokers increased their risks for “cancers of cervix, oesophagus, oral cavity/pharynx, stomach, larynx, pancreas and anogenital region, as well as squamous cell carcinoma of skin” (Stein et al., 2008, p.1588). Tobacco consumption is lower in South Africa than other developed countries and yet smokers already showed significant health risks. Mallaina et al. (2013) provided cross-sectional study results which showed that smoking increased risks for cardiovascular diseases. Hence, smoking has diverse negative effects on health that can result to different cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases. Smoking Cessation: Effects on Appetite, Stress, and Health Smoking cessation can have different effects on diet and health, beginning with its impact on smokers’ appetite levels. Several studies showed that nicotine addiction could lead to withdrawal symptoms for smoking cessation participants that led to appetite increase. Jorenby et al. (1996) examined the effect of smoking cessation and nicotine patch on the withdrawal symptoms of 211 smoking participants through a multi-location, double-blind trial research design. Their participants received intensive counseling on smoking cessation, while using either nicotine or placebo skin patches. Jorenby et al. (1996) learned that hasty smoking cessation enhanced smoking withdrawal symptoms, such as cigarette craving, anxiety, appetite, and weight gain. Nicotine patches reduced withdrawal symptoms, including increased appetite and weight (Jorenby et al., 1996, p.136). The study has strengths of measuring physiological changes after smoking cessation and comparing control group and experimental group. In a different study, John et al. (2006) confirmed that nicotine affected appetite changes after smoking cessation. They studied if nicotine withdrawal symptoms predicted changes in body mass index (BMI) after quitting smoking or reducing smoking habits. John et al. (2006) employed a survey design that included 4,075 participants aged (participation rate=70%) 18 to 64 years old. Their findings showed that smokers who reported appetite or weight gain (IAW) as part of their nicotine withdrawal symptoms had higher BMI than those smokers without IAW. IAW can affect BMI increase. These studies gave evidence that smoking cessation can increase appetite without the proper management of withdrawal symptoms. Aside from appetite effects, quitting smoking can reduce stress, while studies indicated that smoking cessation per se did not necessarily increase anxiety for smokers. Parrott and Murphy (2012) asserted that according to some studies, smoking cessation can improve moods and reduce stress (p.152). They mentioned several comparative studies, which demonstrated that nicotine did not necessarily elevate moods, and so removing it in one’s system did not automatically increase stress levels (Parrott & Murphy, 2012, p.151). Herbert, Foulds, and Fife-Schaw (2001) noted from their study that smoking did not improve mood levels. Their study indicated that smoking cessation can improve moods. Berlin, Chen, and Covey (2010) studied the impacts of effective and ineffective smoking cessation on depressive mood, anxiety- and suicide-related effects. They conducted a randomized trial for 133 smokers with depression problems in the past. Berlin et al. (2010) learned that smoking cessation did not worsen for smokers with depression history, but being unsuccessful in quitting can be related to lower moods. These studies suggested that successful smoking cessation can decrease stress levels. Apart from its reductive effect on stress, smoking cessation can diminish risks for different illnesses. Johnson et al. (2012) showed that quitting smoking can result to reduced cardiovascular risks. They conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo trial for smokers who participated in prospective, randomized smoking cessation clinical trial. The main goal was “absolute change (mm) in carotid intima-media thickness (DCIMTmax) before randomization and 3 years after the target quit date” for 795 participants who were at different cigarette abstinence rates (Johnson et al., 2012, p.1). They learned that smoking did not affect DCIMTmax, while body-mass index and antihypertensive medication significantly predicted DCIMTmax (Johnson et al., 2012, p.1). Furthermore, cardiovascular disease risks decreased by three times after smoking cessation took place (Johnson et al., 2012, p.5). Johnson et al. (2012) concluded that a longer timeframe might be needed to further study the effects of smoking cessation on cardiovascular risks. Another study showed comprehensive positive gains after smoking cessation that came from a national smoking ban in Ireland. Stallings-Smith et al. (2013) studied the impact of this policy on “all-cause and cause-specific, non-trauma mortality” (p.1). Their time-series study included 215,878 non-trauma deaths from January 2000 to December 2007. They learned that after the ban was implemented, there was a 13% decrease in rates for all-cause mortality and reductions in population with ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Thus, smoking cessation through the national smoking ban had immediate effects on the morbidity and mortality of people. There are data limitations on other possible causes of ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), however, and the study did not directly study how much smoking cessation influenced these diseases. These studies demonstrated that when stopped, smokers can reduce morbidity and improve the health quality of their lives. Conclusion Several articles showed that smoking addiction has been correlated with lower appetite at varying extents, higher stress, and some forms of cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Smoking cessation, on the other hand, can increase appetite and lead to higher BMI without adequate intervention for the management of withdrawal symptoms. Smoking cessation, in addition, can improve mood levels and diminish stress, which reducing risks for different forms of cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Studies indicated that quitting is good for the health of smokers and that quitting can be more successful with a mixture of interventions for withdrawal symptoms management. Hence, smoking cessation can greatly improve the quality of life of smokers, especially when it successfully decreases the earlier risks for different illnesses that came with smoking. References Berlin, I., Chen, H., & Covey, L.S. (2010). 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