Researches indicates that heavy smokers who regularly smoked more than one packet of cigarettes each day cut down or quit for half a year after their brains were stimulated with magnets. This noninvasive technique is called repeated high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation, it sends electric impulses to the brain. Sometimes it is used to treat depression.
All the participants in the pilot study had already tried anti-smoking drugs, nicotine gum and patches or psychotherapy to no avail. This study raises hopes that magnetic stimulation might offer an effective alternative for those who want to give up but failed. In this study, researchers recruited 115 people aged 21-70 who smoked at least 20 a day. Only smokers who had tried to give up before using at least two methods were allowed to take part in the program.
Throughout the study, researchers asked the smokers to record how much they smoked up until six months later. The results showed a positive effect in the control group, and also in the smokers who received low frequency stimulation. In both of these groups, the smokers cut down on average from 26 to 20 cigarettes a day. The results were more impressive in the smokers who had high-frequency brain stimulation after witnessing one of the scientists have a drag on a cigarette: 44% of them quit smoking after the three-week course and six months later, 36% said they were still not smoking.
Some scientists claims that although the findings are very promising, this study was too small to be convincing. In fact, a much larger trial which involves medical centers in several countries will start in the next few months to test the stimulation on more smokers.
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