Link Between Smoking & Depression In Leeds

New research today's showing a link between smoking and depression - with people who light up 70% more likely to suffer from mental health issues. Dr Mike Knapton's from Headingley and is Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation. He says the latest figures should encourage more smokers to stub it out for good - because it's just not true that having a cigarette helps calm the nerves, "This myth that smoking is a way of releaving stress is borne out, if we look at the figures for the Leeds area the percentage of smokers that've said they haven't quite because it helps them deal with stress is 38%. "So more than a third of smokers think that smoking helps them deal with stress. And there's a wealth of evidence including this research that suggests that this is wrong. I'm hoping that this report will provide people with another motivating factor which will help them make the decision to quit smoking. "The good news is if you stop your levels of anxiety and depression come down to the same as those who've never smoked, so whilst cigarette smoking is associated with anxiety and depression you can reverse it by stopping smoking."