Planning to stop smoking may not be the only approach.Psychology plays a major role in any changes we might make in our lifestyle and smoking cessation is no exception.

It's long been thought that planning is important in the psychological approach - decide when you'll quit, what support you'll need, how to cope with temptation and so on. However, a study reported by researchers at University College London now shows the value of a sudden decision to stop smoking.

They interviewed over 1,900 smokers and ex-smokers about their attempts to quit. Over half of these had involved no planning at all and these attempts seemed more likely to succeed. The researchers suggest that maybe there is a build-up of 'motivational tension' in a smoker and this interacts with an environmental trigger of some kind, prompting a sudden quit attempt. In other words, they find themselves in the right frame of mind to quit successfully and decide to act on this immediately. Maybe public health campaigns could take this model on board and ensure support is readily available for those who suddenly decide to stop smoking.

Source
BMJ Online First 26th January 2006