Women May Smoke to Control Weight

A Wright State University psychologist says women have a harder time kicking the smoking habit than men because they use smoking as a way to maintain their weight.

“Women not only have the same problems men have of overcoming the physical and emotional addiction of smoking, many of them also have the added problems of using it to control weight,” said Fred Ernst.

“Our society has an obsession with slimness, and there is much more societal pressure for women to be thin than for men,” he said.

Women have learned to use smoking as a weight control method, and they believe they are likely to have an initial weight gain if they kick the habit, he said.

Ernst, who has worked with smokers at the WSU Cox Heart Institute, says people do gain some weight when they stop smoking because the body can metabolize food more effectively and there is the tendency to substitute additional eating for smoking.