Giving up cigarettes might be difficult for some because nicotine withdrawal weakens brain connections, a latest study shows.
For the study, researchers conducted brain scans on 37 smokers, who smoked over 10 cigarettes a day. All were aged between 19 and 61. The scan was done using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in two different sessions; 24 hours after biochemically confirmed abstinence and after smoking as usual.
The researchers found that smokers who refrained from cigarettes showed weakened interconnectivity between certain sections of brains: the default mode network, the executive control network and the salience network.
Furthermore, the imaging showed how smokers suffering from nicotine withdrawal have difficulty shifting from a key brain network - known as default mode, when people are in a so-called 'introspective' or 'self-referential' state - and into a control network, the so-called executive control network, that could help apply more conscious, self-control over cravings and to focus on quitting for good.
"What we believe this means is that smokers who just quit have a more difficult time shifting gears from inward thoughts about how they feel to an outward focus on the tasks at hand," Caryn Lerman from the University of Pennsylvania, said in a press release.
"It's very important for people who are trying to quit to be able to maintain activity within the control network - to be able to shift from thinking about yourself and your inner state to focus on your more immediate goals and plan," said Lerman.
This is the first study that compared resting brain connectivity in an abstinent state and when people are smoking as usual, and then connect those changes to symptoms of craving and mental performance, researchers said.
The findings appear in the journal 'JAMA Psychiatry.'
