Therapist Unlimited Blog

We all know that the urge to smoke is pretty contagious. But did you know that quitting is as contagious as too? Yes it is. There were a group of researchers who showed that obesity can spread from person to person. They found the similar pattern with people quitting the puffing sensation. Most likely, a smoker will kick the habit out of his or her system if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling already quit.

The other fascinating this is, smokers have the tendency to quit in groups. Those who do not stop puffing increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge by their very own social circles. The lead author of the report, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School said that a person’s smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people that they know but also the people who knows them.

The study clearly displayed that peer influence plays a key role in every person’s decision to stop lighting up and it provides a really sturdy explanation of the term, ‘buddy system’ which is employed for weight loss and alcoholism programs.

When the researchers studied the social lives of over twelve thousand people, they saw that the greatest influence was seen in close relationships. When a spouse quits smoking, the other partner has a huge 67 percent chance of quitting as well. Similarly, when a friend quits, the tendency of the other to smoke drops to a measly 36 percent. In this case, people who are connected together influence each other.

To end this article, the researcher pointed out that this report could simply not be proven by the data. You just have to come up to the person and ask them the real reason why they stopped smoking and you will be amazed that most of them quit because someone close to them already did.