DURHAM, N.C., May 13 (UPI) -- Smoking is commonly regarded as one of the most difficult habits to break and those who do quit successfully may have their brains, rather than any product or method, to thank for that success.
Increased connectivity between two regions of the brain may be the reason that some can stop smoking more successfully than others, according to a study from Duke Medicine.
Researchers in the study performed MRIs on 85 smokers one month before they quit, and then followed them for 10 weeks after they stopped smoking. Roughly half of them started smoking again before the 10-week study ended. The 44 who successfully quit, however, all had similarities in the way two parts of their brains communicated, indicating that this link likely is important to being able to quit.
The insula, a part of the brain which controls urges and cravings and has been shown in previous studies to be active when smokers crave a cigarette, and somatosensory cortex, which handles touch and motor control, were better coordinated among people in the study who successfully quit smoking.
Related
"There's a general agreement in the field that the insula is a key structure with respect to smoking and that we need to develop cessation interventions that specifically modulate insula function," Dr. Joseph McClernon, an associate professor at Duke, said in a press release. "But in what ways do we modulate it, and in whom? Our data provides some evidence on both of those fronts, and suggests that targeting connectivity between insula and somatosensory cortex could be a good strategy."
While more research is required to understand how this connection works and why it affects smoking as it does, McClernon suggested that neurofeedback and transcranial magnetic stimulation, both of which are used to affect brain function as part of treatment for other conditions, could be one place to start.
"We have provided a blueprint," McClernon said. "If we can increase connectivity in smokers to look more like those who quit successfully, that would be a place to start."
The study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
