Home Technology Do pregnancy hormones help quit smoking?

Do pregnancy hormones help quit smoking?

A Northwestern University study found that pregnant female smokers, on average, began to smoke one cigarette less per day compared to pre-pregnancy.

And the journal Addiction Biology reports that within a month of learning about it, they were smoking four fewer cigarettes a day. Does this mean that pregnancy reduces nicotine cravings in women who smoke before they know they are pregnant?

As you know, the results of most previous studies on the effects of smoking on pregnancy and child health have shown that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of fetal death or days after birth. Smoking also slows down the growth of the fetus, reduces its weight, head circumference, height, and so on.

But the new study looked at the question of smoking from a different angle—the impact of pregnancy on smoking habits. This study, which involved 416 women, included determining the number of cigarettes smoked by each pregnant woman.

It turned out that all participants before pregnancy smoked an average of 10 cigarettes a day. Even before they knew they were pregnant, that number was down by one cigarette a day. A month after they found out they were pregnant, their smoking dropped from an average of nine cigarettes a day to five. Most importantly, this case included both planned and unplanned pregnancies and whether they quit smoking as a result.

According to researchers, this may be due to the action of pregnancy hormones. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), produced by the placenta during early pregnancy, may help reduce nicotine addiction. This hormone helps the body adapt to the stress of pregnancy, it is also very necessary for the growth of the placenta and is associated with morning sickness during pregnancy.

The researchers noted that women significantly reduced their smoking between the fifth and tenth week, when the production of this hormone peaks.

The results of this study suggest that, in addition to a pregnant woman’s desire to quit smoking for the sake of her baby’s health, there appear to be biological processes in her body that increase her desire to quit smoking.

Source: News. Ro

NO COMMENTS

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Exit mobile version