Exercise and Smoking Cessation

Smoking is a public health crisis, leading to a multitude of health complications. Exercise is associated with numerous health benefits and is accepted by health professionals and smokers as a potentially effective smoking cessation aid. This chapter discusses the extant literature on the relation between exercise and smoking, including cross-sectional studies, experiments, and randomized clinical trials. There is robust evidence for exercise’s efficacy in reducing cigarette craving, tobacco withdrawal symptoms, and negative affect. Further, exercise-based interventions appear to boost short-term abstinence yet may fall short of facilitating long-term abstinence. Methodological limitations of extant work are reviewed. We conclude with a discussion of the next steps in this line of work to fine-tune exercise interventions and their application for smoking cessation.