New method to quit smoking

According to a new study, there could soon be another method for smokers to use to quit smoking. A treatment that has already been proven to be effective in patients battling depression, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), has been tested for its effectiveness in a group of daily smokers. TMS uses a magnetic field to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. The upside to this procedure is the fact that it is non-invasive. The study treated 16 smokers on two occasions. The first round they received TMS, and the second round they received a placebo. When the results were compared, it was found that the participants had reduced cravings for nicotine after the TMS versus not having the treatment. In this study, the TMS was performed at the left dorsolateral prefontal cortex. This area was chosen because it is involved in the brain's reward system.

I chose this article mainly because it sounded interesting, but also because we just learned about the different regions of the brain in physiology, so it is interesting to see how things can be applied to different regions. Moreover, I have known quite a few smokers, all have successfully quite smoking by various means, but it is neat to see what knew ways are being discovered to help those that are trying to quit.

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