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New mobile app to help kick nicotine addiction
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A recent experiment by scientists has shown that special text messages sent directly to a mobile phone can help overcome the painful craving for smoking. The messages, which are interactive and motivating, helped more than 11% of smokers who took part in the experimental program to quit the bad habit.
Participants in the program were able to hold out for six months without cigarettes. Employees of one of the universities in the United States (named after George Washington) noted that the results in the control group were much lower - 5% gave up the bad habit.
According to scientists, the effectiveness of the new method lies in the fact that the messages regularly reminded the person that they need to focus on quitting nicotine addiction.
There are special mobile applications on the modern market that are a kind of "reminder" for those who quit smoking. For example, there is an application called Time To Quit Smoke, which, based on statistical data and the individual preferences of the user of the program (the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the frequency of smoking), calculates a schedule that will help you gradually give up the bad habit.
The latest study involved 503 people who wanted to quit smoking. The main advantages of the new development include the fact that a person can, if necessary, ask for additional help or independently set a date by which it is necessary to completely get rid of nicotine addiction.
For example, if a person feels an irresistible desire to smoke, he can send a message, which will be answered with advice or a distracting game.
Recently, scientists have been developing more and more new ways to help smokers quit their bad habit. Recently, Taiwanese designer Tseng Yi Wen created a concept of cigarettes that help to completely overcome cigarette addiction over time.
She called her project "Tobacco", which includes packs in which cigarettes correspond to the habits of smokers.
The first designer set included several types of cigarettes with individual numbers so that a person would know the number of cigarettes smoked. The secret of these cigarettes is that each subsequent cigarette contains less tobacco due to the lengthening of the filter, which reduces the intake of harmful substances into the body. As the designer believes, smokers need to be shown that they need to monitor their health more carefully.
The second design of "Tobacco Sharing" cigarettes is intended to help not just one person quit smoking, but, for example, a friend of the owner of such designer cigarettes. The thing is that the cigarettes have filters at both ends. A special pack, half of which can be given to a friend, will help reduce the intake of nicotine into the body, since special shortened cigarettes quite satisfy the desire to smoke.
The third design set, called "Tobacco Day", includes packs of cigarettes with the days of the month printed on them. In this case, the secret is the same as in the first design set, where the cigarettes are numbered.
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