Smoking cessation ‘has mental health benefits’

Stopping smoking could have a number of mental health benefits, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from the universities of Birmingham and Oxford and King's College London have analysed the results of 26 studies of adults that assessed mental health levels before and after smoking cessation.

It was found that kicking the habit has been linked to improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, psychological quality of life and positivity compared with continuing to smoke, with the effect being equal or larger than that of antidepressant therapy for mood and anxiety disorders.

The researchers said: "This could overcome barriers that clinicians have toward intervening with smokers with mental health problems. Furthermore, challenging the widely held assumption that smoking has mental health benefits could motivate smokers to stop."

This comes in the same week that the British government approved a new ban on smoking in cars carrying children, as part of wider efforts to limit the health impact of cigarettes on the UK population.