Conquer Your Cravings

What if environmental stressors increased your craving for nicotine? One of the most common reasons smoker’s fail to quit smoking is due to nicotine cravings. Even if an individual is actively smoking nicotine, they still experience longings for the substance. However, for those individuals who are actively trying to quit smoking, hindering cravings would be most useful.

This study hypothesized that mood, particularly negative mood, escalates cravings for nicotine. One part of this study looked at the negative affect of mood through a pictorial slide, gender, and cravings. The participants were both male and female and they were put through a manipulation that required them to view depressing pictures while listening to undesirable music. After the manipulation was over, a test was given to the participants to measure craving and mood. The results of the study supported the original hypothesis that a negative mood increases cravings and that women were more susceptible to negative mood related cravings.          

       Everyday stressors, such as losing your keys or sleeping past your alarm, can result in a negative mood. These are things that we experience all the time and are hard to avoid. For smokers, these situations that result in a negative mood can lead to cravings for nicotine.

       One of the limitations in this study was that every participant went through the same stressor manipulation to result in a negative mood. Future research should study the intensity of the stressor and determine if the level of stress experience affects cravings or if stress in general effects cravings no matter the intensity.

Abstract

Conklin, C. A., Giedgowd, G. E., Karelitz, J. L., & Perkins, K. A. (2013). Negative mood effects on craving to smoke in women versus men. Addictive Behaviors, 38, 1527-1531.