Don’t Forget, Teenagers Want To Quit Smoking Too

Parents who want to quit smoking in the wake of parenthood are not a rarity in quitting smoking campaigns. While there seem to be new studies out every day on what secondhand smoke does to kids, the voice of a child who wants to give up the habit seem to be rare. A professor in Virginia noted that kids are often assumed to be not interested in quitting simply because they’re kids.

The International Business Times reports:

“Oftentimes people believe that kids aren’t interested in quitting and that they won’t take part in an intervention,” said Kimberly Horn, a professor in the department of community medicine at West Virginia School of Medicine.

A new study released today that surveyed 233 West Virginia high school kids determined that teens are more successful at kicking smoking if they engage in physical exercise in addition to quitting. The method was particular effective in teenage boy smokers:

“Physical activity, even in small or moderate doses, can greatly increase the odds of quitting. And, this type of approach attempts to change more than one behavior,” Horn explained.

Dropping smoking altogether takes a certain amount of willpower from a teen, but running a few miles in the hopes of not relapsing obviously suggests an even stronger dedication to quitting.

(photo: Shutterstock)

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