Written by Jane Tucker| Thursday, 09 December 2010| There is 1 comment
her mouth forms into the shape of a cat's backside
Just last week at Ukmedix News we wrote about how the number of women suffering from lung cancer has increased in the United Kingdom (whereas it has reduced in men) and that experts have suggested that this could be because many smoking cessation campaigns appear to be targeted at men rather than women. One of our suggestions was that in the same way that men can be encouraged to quit smoking by telling them that it will have a significant negative effect on their erectile function, women should be told that smoking could make them look old prematurely and give them wrinkles.
It seems that other people think that this is a good idea too especially Professor Sarah Grogan from Staffordshire University who is an expert in health psychology. She recently conducted a small study which allowed women to generate computer images of themselves showing how they would age if they carried on smoking cigarettes and how they would age if they quit.
Almost 50 women took part in this trial and they were between the ages of 18 and 34 and fascinatingly almost 70 percent of them said they would quit smoking immediately as a result of having seen the images.Some of the women said that the images made them feel ill and requested smoking cessation remedies and advice straightaway. The computer generated images showed how smoking could aggravate crow's feet around the eyes and mouth as well as the yellow bland skin which is associated with smoking.
The study which was published by the British Journal of Health Psychology shows that women appear to be much more afraid of getting old then they do of getting smoking related diseases such as heart disease and cancer. More work needs to be done in this area because smokers need psychological motivation in order to quit and if women can be motivated in this way then computer generated aging images should be an integral part of smoking cessation remedies.
Why not try and visualize how sad and pathetic an ageing woman looks as she drags on a cigarette and her mouth forms into the shape of a cat's backside. Attractive eh!
