Is quitting smoking on your New Year's resolution list again? Well, that might be of little or no use as researchers have found that weekly commitment to stop smoking can actually be more helpful when it comes to kicking the butt than once-a-year resolution.
Researchers at San Diego State University, the Santa Fe Institute, The Monday Campaigns and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health observed the Google search query records in six languages from 2008 to 2012.
They assessed the search queries such as 'help quit smoking' to understand the weekly pattern of people's thoughts to stop smoking.
The researchers found that Monday gets highest search queries on quitting smoking. "On New Year's Day, interest in smoking cessation doubles," lead study author, John Ayers of San Diego State University said in a press release. "But New Year's happens one day a year. Here we're seeing a spike that happens once a week."
According to Joanna Cohen, a co-author of the Google study and director of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institute for Global Tobacco Control, "campaigns for people to quit may benefit from shifting to weekly cues to increase the number of quit attempts participants make each year." This means that requiting puffing will prove more beneficial that every New Year's resolution.
The researchers explained that after around seven to 10 attempts people stop smoking. If they are encouraged to requit the habit once a week, the overall time required to stop smoking habit can be achieved sooner.
Morgan Johnson, director of programs and research at the Monday Campaigns and another co-author of the Google paper, suggested that quitting contemplation on Monday can be used to provide social support for quitters, an important factor in long-term success.
The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
