Browse: Home / Neurotechnology Tip / Quitting smoking requires meticulous timing, if you’re a lady

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Better Body Chemistry School
  • Book a health conversation
  • Speaking query
  • The “Big” Spoons
  • Donate
Header image

BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

advertisement

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • START HERE
  • Free Resources
    • 31 days to Better Body Chemistry
    • Willpower Report
    • Better Body Chemistry for Expecting Moms
    • The ups and downs of insulin resistance
    • Candy Floss Boards
  • Meet the Team
  • Library
  • Lucky dip
  • Better Body Chemistry TV
    • Video gallery for Expecting Moms
    • Video gallery for people with metabolic syndrome
    • Video gallery of how to survive flu season
  • Sound bites
  • Contact

Quitting smoking requires meticulous timing, if you’re a lady

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Neurotechnology Tip | 5227 Views | Leave a response
estrogen fawning over nicotine

Smoking is not good for you, but giving it up is HARD, especially if you’re a lady…… estrogen LOVES nicotine.

Smoking is not good for you.

You know this. I know this. Even your five year old nephew knows this.

But giving it up is HARD.

Especially if you’re a lady.

Study after study, shows women battle more with cigarette craving than men.

Eish !

It’s those hormones again…………….

The cigarette craving cycle

Hormones run our lives – the good, the bad and the ugly.

Cigarette (nicotine) cravings are no exception.

People have been aware that smoking habits of women, often vary across the menstrual cycle. Have you ever noticed ?

The reason why, women smoke more or less at different times of the month, has never really been explored, until now. But, researchers from the University of Montreal , decided it was time to tackle the issue.

They mess with your head

The team worked with 34 serious smokers. The men and women all smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day and had no intention of quitting. The smokers agreed to undergo MRI brain scans, alongside blood tests and screenings for depression and anxiety.

They began with a quick puff at ground zero, then in due course, climbed into the scanner to view a series of pictures, while their brains were scanned. One set of pictures were neutral, the other set were designed to illicit cigarette cravings. Brain patterns were tracked.

  • The men in the study, did it once.
  • The women, climbed in and out of the MRI machine twice, once during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle and once, during the luteal phase.

The follicular phase is the first half of the menstrual cycle, it begins after the period. The luteal phase is the second half of the menstrual cycle, it ends when menstruation occurs. 

The circuits are the same

The participants were all nicotine addicts – there was no real difference between the genders.   The fMRI patterns, also found very little difference between the neuronal patterns of men and women.

So neuronal circuit differences don’t explain why ladies LOVE cigarettes more.

The only difference the team could see between the men and women – was the levels of activation of the neural circuits. Ladies brain’s lit up like Christmas trees during the follicular phase, but, there was only a tiny glimmer of activity in the hippocampus during the luteal phase.

Estrogen the foxy lady

It seems……

  • When estrogen levels are high, women receive a little more pleasure from their vice.
  • When progesterone levels are high, smoking doesn’t feel quite as good for a lady.

This is important to know.

If you’re planning on quitting, you want to quit when you’re least like to suffer SERIOUS CRAVINGS.

Stop when you ovulate

This research suggests, the best time to quit is around the time you ovulate. This is the time period, just before/around the time, you get cranky i.e. suffer from PMS. It is at this point in your cycle, that estrogen levels are dropping and progesterone levels are rising.

Hormonal speaking…………….

You’re in the QUITTING zone.

The lower estrogen, higher progesterone levels should mean cravings are diminished.   They’ll still be there, they won’t be eliminated (sorry), but if you can hold it together for the duration of the luteal phase, the odds that you stay off the cigarettes permanently, are a tiny bit higher.

Timing is everything

NOTE : You might also want to try a fishy pick me up too, research suggests this can help with cravings.

Share Button

Sex Differences and Menstrual Cycle Phase-Dependent Modulation of Craving for Cigarette: An fMRI Pilot Study. Psychiatry Journal (2014) Article ID 723632. Adrianna Mendrek, Laurence Dinh-Williams, Josiane Bourque, Stéphane Potvin.

Further reading

a bottle of whey protein

Whey is a way to keep sugar levels from spiking in diabetes

The key to better body chemistry for the diabetic, is to blunt the rise in sugar. A whey cocktail prior to a meal is an easy way to reduce sugar spikes…

100 birthday party bash

You don’t need to be a goody-2-shoes to join the 100 club

People in this prestigious club of folks who have celebrated a 100 or more birthdays, are no more virtuous than the rest of us, when it comes to health habits.

aspirin is not for women

Aspirin discriminates against women

The idea that an aspirin a day, will protect from heart disease is pretty much embedded in the collective psyche.  But aspirin doesn’t really protect women.

 

Want better body chemistry ?

Subscribe to E-spoons, to get updates that explain how to optimize your health through better body chemistry. 

View previous E-spoons.

Close

NOTE : Privacy & spam policy. Spoonful of Science will not rent, trade or sell the e-mail list to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe link.

Posted in Neurotechnology Tip | Tagged brain, cigarette, cravings nicotine, estrogen, hormones addiction, progesterone, smoking

Connect with us

facebook you tube pinterest 40 google plus 40 Linkedin

FEELING….

sign posts then you need better body chemistry.

Grab our free E-course

“31 days to better body chemistry”

The advice is simple to follow and based on REAL science, not hype

Need more information ? Click here

  • Popular
  • Featured
  • Recent
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16556 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16023 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15352 views / Posted
  • carbonated water bubbles fill you up

    Fizzing up the water flattens your appetite

    14068 views / Posted
  • a see food diet

    It might be time to try the TRF see food diet – it works

    11444 views / Posted
  • sun extracting cholesterol

    Make sure you have your “annual” check-up in the summer time

    / Dr Sandy
  • sending your kid to bootcamp won't stop childhood obesity

    Moving more won’t stop your kid from getting fat

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol at the scene of the accident

    Bone cells are stiffening up your arteries not cholesterol

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain size the problem in ADHD

    Are kids with ADHD just acting according to their brain age

    / Dr Sandy
  • plastering the blood vessel with calcium

    Calcium supplements are building bones and breaking hearts

    / Dr Sandy
  • vitamin D conservation plan

    Deploy a vitamin D conservation plan this winter

    / Dr Sandy
  • killer cookies

    How to avoid wearing edible Christmas gifts on your hips

    / Dr Sandy
  • eye putttin gpressure on the stomach

    Maybe it’s time to invest in appetite suppressing glasses

    / Dr Sandy
  • pgc1alpha

    Mitochondria in insulin resistance

    / Dr Sandy
  • a low fat diet spiking blood fat levels

    The more saturated fat you eat, the lower your blood fat levels

    / Dr Sandy

RSS Recent posts

Dr Sandy Dr Sandy Evans, PhD

Located in Johannesburg, South Africa

Book an appointment with Spoonful of Science using SetMore
Disclaimer : The stories and articles are provided as a service. Dr Sandy's opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
 
 

Connect with Dr Sandy

facebook 40
you tube 40
pinterest 40
google plus 40
linkedin 40
meetup 40
 

Categories

Featured posts

  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16556 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16023 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15352 views / Posted
 

©2011-2019 Spoonful of Science

Menu

  • Meet Dr Sandy
  • Disclosure/disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Comment policy
  • Contact
Redirect Stakk
Thank You

Beat your SUGAR CRAVINGS, using biology, NOT psychology

Download our FREE REPORT entitled, "How to get the Willpower you Need to Trump Sugar's Power"

  • Do you have a sugar gremlin ?
  • Discover the biology behind sugar gremlins
  • Learn about the 10 weapons you can use to TAME YOUR SUGAR GREMLIN

Get instant access