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__The Menstrual Cycle__

Have you ever wondered if the female’s menstrual cycle could possibly increase the difficulty for a women trying to quitting cigarettes? Well, it turns out that women actually become more addicted to nicotine than men do. But why? A study done by the Psychiatric Journal shows that the woman's menstrual cycle could possibly cause changes in the brain that affect their desire to smoke. They took 34 men and women who were addicted to cigarettes and made them fill out a questionnaire while doing MRI scans on their brains. The women were tested twice to account for the follicular phase and the mid-luteal phase. The study showed that at the beginning of the follicular phase women would get uncontrollable urges because of the lack of estrogen and progesterone. During the mid-luteal phase it showed that women’s brain would activate in the parietal, frontal and temporal lobe of the brain causing cravings. These scientists believe that if women understand their menstrual cycle that they could possibly have an easier time quitting cigarettes. And although the scientists believe that the results are somewhat meaningless due to the fact there were only 34 people to do tests on and for the results to be accurate scientists would have to perform the tests on a much larger scale. But they believe this has sparked a need for more gender-specific cessation research.

References: http://time.com/3655931/how-your-period-affects-your-desire-to-quit-smoking/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9916957 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287580.php http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20150105-neuroscientist-reveals-that-women-crave-cigarette-more-strongly-during-their-periods.html

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The dangers of what is inside of a cigarette. The different side effects from smoking cigarettes. This is what an MRI machine looks like. What the brain looks like through and MRI. A women casually smoking a cigarette.