Sniffing pleasant odors may decrease cigarette craving
https://neurosciencenews.com/olfaction-cigarette-craving-11085/
In this article, research conducted by Michael Sayette, PhD and published by the American Psychological Association evaluates the role of pleasant smells in helping adults who are trying to quit smoking curb their craving to smoke a cigarette. In the research study, 232 adult smokers that were not interested in quitting were recruited. Before coming to the study, these adults were asked to refrain from smoking. At the beginning of the study, the participants were all asked to smell a pleasant odor, tobacco from their preferred type of cigarette, and no odor. During the study, participants lit their cigarettes, but did not smoke it and then once they extinguished the lit, unsmoked cigarette they were given a container that had one of the odors that they had been exposed to earlier in the study. Each participant had to rate how tempted they were to smoke every 60 seconds for five minutes from the time that they extinguished their cigarette. The results showed a decrease in the urge to smoke after smelling any of the odors, but the greatest decrease came from the pleasant aroma. The article explains that the research aimed to extend an effect of aromas on helping to curb a craving that could allow for smokers to avoid a situation where they would smoke. The researcher from the study explains that he believes the reasoning for the decrease in craving was greater from the pleasant odor was because of memories linked to the olfactory cues that come from the odor the participant was exposed to. The article also notes the limitations of the research, but explores the idea of continuing this line of research to be able to introduce a new intervention for adults trying to quit smoking.
This article looked at a new form of intervention to an addiction that I thought was interesting. In class, we talked about the different ways to treat addictions and this intervention that is being studied is different from all of the treatments we discussed. I'm interested to see if further research is conducted on this because it would provide a way for smokers to feel in control of their addiction in a way by lessening their urge to smoke. Additionally, in a psychology course I took in high school, we talked about the way that olfaction often leads to some of the strongest elicited memories because we remember smells very strongly. To me, this research indicates that pleasurable odors could elicit some sort of memory or emotion that would aid the smoker in wanting to not smoke. This line of research would need to be extended, however, I think it would be effective and intriguing to see how olfaction and the way that memories and emotions are linked to it could be integral in this intervention of lessening or ending an addiction to cigarettes.
In this article, research conducted by Michael Sayette, PhD and published by the American Psychological Association evaluates the role of pleasant smells in helping adults who are trying to quit smoking curb their craving to smoke a cigarette. In the research study, 232 adult smokers that were not interested in quitting were recruited. Before coming to the study, these adults were asked to refrain from smoking. At the beginning of the study, the participants were all asked to smell a pleasant odor, tobacco from their preferred type of cigarette, and no odor. During the study, participants lit their cigarettes, but did not smoke it and then once they extinguished the lit, unsmoked cigarette they were given a container that had one of the odors that they had been exposed to earlier in the study. Each participant had to rate how tempted they were to smoke every 60 seconds for five minutes from the time that they extinguished their cigarette. The results showed a decrease in the urge to smoke after smelling any of the odors, but the greatest decrease came from the pleasant aroma. The article explains that the research aimed to extend an effect of aromas on helping to curb a craving that could allow for smokers to avoid a situation where they would smoke. The researcher from the study explains that he believes the reasoning for the decrease in craving was greater from the pleasant odor was because of memories linked to the olfactory cues that come from the odor the participant was exposed to. The article also notes the limitations of the research, but explores the idea of continuing this line of research to be able to introduce a new intervention for adults trying to quit smoking.
This article looked at a new form of intervention to an addiction that I thought was interesting. In class, we talked about the different ways to treat addictions and this intervention that is being studied is different from all of the treatments we discussed. I'm interested to see if further research is conducted on this because it would provide a way for smokers to feel in control of their addiction in a way by lessening their urge to smoke. Additionally, in a psychology course I took in high school, we talked about the way that olfaction often leads to some of the strongest elicited memories because we remember smells very strongly. To me, this research indicates that pleasurable odors could elicit some sort of memory or emotion that would aid the smoker in wanting to not smoke. This line of research would need to be extended, however, I think it would be effective and intriguing to see how olfaction and the way that memories and emotions are linked to it could be integral in this intervention of lessening or ending an addiction to cigarettes.
I thought this was a very clever study done to curb addiction. Tobacco is one of the leading causes of disease in the world. People have come up with ways that they can curb this addiction, but it relies to heavily on the person internal sense of will to stop. This provides a healthy and safe alternative that could help people curb this addiction. This was very informational and transformational however there could've been more data on how the aroma actually curbs their addiction. Olfaction is one of the strongest senses and can help connect memories or can sway people off. It is a very powerful sense that could be used as a tool to eliminate cigarette smoking.
ReplyDeleteI believe this article was my favorite to learn from. I was very fascinated with the idea that sniffing an odor that's pleasant was able to curb the appetite of frequent cigarette smokers. In Medina's, "Brain Rules" he states (In response to his 9th Rule) that since our senses are always working together, smell is unusually effective at evoking memory while working with the brain. This is why I believe that with smelling something pleasant while smoking cigarettes, it helps suppress the memories associated with cigarette smoke, and the new olfactory smell helps bring back the good memories associated with the new smell. Since you said the humans are able to remember smells most fondly, I believe that this new treatment used to curb addiction would prove itself successful, with the right subject though.
ReplyDeleteI think this article was very interesting, because the researcher came up with a unique way of testing to see if individuals could stop smoking using a unique way, instead of the typical patches, gum, medicine, etc. We learned in our "Brain Rules" book that the strongest sense that an individual has is their sense of smell. This is because our smell is the only factor that skips the thalamus, and goes straight to the higher destinations. Because our sense of smell does not have to go through multiple structures to get to the brain to process what we are smelling, the article clearly defines that the pleasant odor immediately can help combat the need for smokers to pick up a cigarette.
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