You want to quit smoking? The solution could be in the money

The English expression "put your money where your mouth is" could be more accurate than ever when it comes to give up smoking.

A recent study published in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine shows that monetary incentives have been shown to be more effective than nicotine patches and cognitive behavioral therapy as a form of anti-smoking treatment.

Quitting Through Reward

The starting point of the monetary incentive strategy has the reward system of our brain as a starting point. The hypothesis is this: if the money goes to you, you will have more reasons to keep your promise to stay away from tobacco and you'll be less likely to put off your "last cigarette". In other words, a reward system influenced by betting could strengthen your willpower. to a degree that neither chemical substitutes nor specific cognitive-behavioral therapies can do it. Quitting smoking would thus become a profit and loss affair.

But such a mercantile logic can seem perverse if it is only based on incentives other than those provided by a healthier lifestyle. What happens when financial incentives stop? Do smokers return to pounce on packs of tobacco? Fortunately, it seems not. The betting system proved to be effective even

six months later researchers stopped financially rewarding ex-smokers for not trying tobacco.

How was the investigation carried out?

A total of 2,538 people who actively smoked were used as a sample for the study. From this set of smokers, these people were divided into four groups depending on the type of monetary incentive-based program in which they would participate. These four programs were, in short (the names are made up):

• Simple program. Quitting smoking for a series of days pays off based on the time spent away from tobacco. The researchers analyzed the volunteers' saliva at three different times after they started the program: 14 days later, 30 days later, and 6 months later. In each of these reviews a sum of money could be obtained, the maximum being 800 dollars.

• Simple program with deposit. This program was similar to the previous one, but the volunteers had to start by leaving $ 150 as a deposit. This money could only be recovered by going 6 months without smoking.

• Cooperative program. Each participant was assigned to a small group of six people. Individuals in each group earned money based on the number of people on their team who quit smoking.

• Grab the loot. Teams of six were formed in which each person had to post a bond of $ 150. Successful quitters shared the sum of the bonds equally.

Volunteers who refused to participate in their assigned program were able to quit smoking using traditional methods.

Results

All four programs were shown more effective than traditional smoking cessation methods. However, the programs that achieved the best results were also the least popular, that is, those that fewer people were willing to start. These last programs were the two that required the deposit of a bond: despite the fact that only 14% of the people assigned started them, 52% of participants went 6 months without smoking, while this percentage of efficacy decreased to 17% in alternatives based only on one reward.

Of course, not all of us have access to the necessary tools to do saliva analysis. However, if you are thinking about quitting smoking it is always good to keep in mind that, behind all the justifications that one gets to smoke the last cigarette, there is a reward system that you should be able to put between a rock and a hard place.