Quitting smoking helps you have a more optimistic outlook on life.

If heavy and moderate smokers quit smoking, their mental state will improve significantly.

This conclusion was reached by British scientists in a study on the mental health of smokers, published in the British medical journal British Medical Journal on February 13th.

The image is for illustrative purposes only. (Source: sri.com)

In the study, scientists assessed the mental health of smokers based on a standardized scale of symptoms of anxiety, distress, depression, and quality of life, through the responses of volunteer participants.

The smokers participating in the study had an average age of 44 and smoked between 10 and 40 cigarettes per day. They were interviewed before and after attempting to quit smoking, typically six months later.

As a result, those who quit smoking experienced reduced anxiety, distress, and depression, and had a more optimistic outlook on life compared to those who continued to smoke.

According to the same study, the effectiveness of quitting medication was comparable to, or even greater than, that of patients who used antidepressants to treat mental disorders. Those who quit medication and had previously been diagnosed with mental disorders all showed improvement in their mental health.

The lead researcher, Gemma Taylor from the School of Health and Population Sciences at the University of Birmingham in the UK, asserts that quitting smoking and breaking the nicotine addiction cycle will improve your mental health.

Ms. Taylor hopes that these research findings will help dispel a fairly common misconception about smoking: that smoking is good for your nerves because it reduces depression, promotes relaxation, and enhances enjoyment.

For smokers, the calm or euphoric feeling that follows smoking is a classic sign of anxiety and depression. However, smokers often misinterpret these symptoms and blame them on depression and other factors.

In addition, because nicotine in cigarettes also has a calming effect, smokers believe that cigarettes are good for their mental health.

Smoking causes many diseases such as cancer, blindness, heart disease, diabetes, gum disease, and erectile dysfunction.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization in July 2013, approximately 6 million people die worldwide each year due to tobacco use, and this number could rise to 8 million by 2030.

According to VNA