Women who want to quit smoking may have better success by carefully timing their quit date with optimal days within their menstrual cycle, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results, published online this month in Biology of Sex Differences, were also presented at the annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD), held at Penn.
Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and women experience more severe health consequences from cigarette smoking than men, including a 25 percent increased risk of developing coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Research also shows that women have greater difficulty with smoking cessation than men.
“Understanding how menstrual cycle phase affects neural processes, cognition and behavior is a critical step in developing more effective treatments and in selecting the best, most individualized treatment options to help each cigarette smoker quit,” said the study’s lead author, Reagan Wetherill, PhD, a research assistant professor of Psychology… Read More>>
Source: Medical Xpress
