Exercise or Relaxation for Smoking Cessation

Prevalence of smoking among women has declined more slowly in women than among men. Women who quit smoking substantially reduce the risk of premature death. A multi-modal approach to smoking cessation with combined behavioral and pharmacological interventions generally yields the highest success rates. The majority of subjects who are able to achieve abstinence return to smoking. Smoking relapse rates are 50-80% within one year with the majority of smokers relapsing within the first 3 months. Interventions are needed to both enhance smoking cessation rates and prevent relapse rates in order to substantially impact long-term quit rates.We intend to compare the effectiveness of a smoking cessation program combined with a moderate exercise program to an identical smoking cessation program combined with a relaxation-meditation control condition. In a substudy, we will also evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in premenopausal women (N=40)