• Posted July 7, 2026

Exercise Can Ward Off Nicotine Fits, Help Smokers Quit

Exercise can boost a smoker’s odds of successfully quitting, a new evidence review says.

Smokers taking part in exercise programs were more likely to either quit or cut back on cigarettes, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Sport and Health Science.

In fact, a single bout of exercise immediately reduces nicotine cravings for up to a half hour afterward, researchers found.

“Quitting smoking is one of the best things a person can do for their health, but it’s also one of the hardest,” lead investigator Ben Singh, a research fellow at Adelaide University in Australia, said in a news release.

“Many smokers want to quit, but the current approaches don’t work for everyone,” Singh said. “That’s why we need more strategies that people can incorporate into their daily lives at little or no cost.”

For their review, researchers analyzed the results of 59 previous clinical trials that examined the benefits of exercise when trying to quit smoking. More than 9,000 people participated.

Results showed that people in an exercise program were 21% more likely to report not smoking over a seven-day period, and 15% more likely to quit completely.

The evidence also showed that exercise reduced smoking by about two cigarettes a day and could be used to derail a nicotine fit.

These results show that exercise can be used strategically to ward off cravings for a smoke, said senior author Carol Maher, a research professor of population and digital health at Adelaide University.

“Quitting smoking does not have to begin and end with willpower alone,” she said in a news release. “Cravings can be difficult to manage, but they often pass.

“Our review found that even a single bout of exercise can reduce cravings for up to 30 minutes, which may help people get through some of the hardest moments of a quit attempt,” Maher said.

However, researchers warned that exercise should not be used in lieu of smoking cessation programs or medications that help reduce tobacco cravings.

“Exercise should not replace evidence-based quit supports such as counseling and smoking cessation medication, but it may be a practical, low-cost strategy that people can use alongside them,” Maher said.

Researchers next plan to test how exercise might be incorporated into real-world quit programs, and to see if exercise also might support people trying to quit vaping.

More information

The American Lung Association has more on how to quit smoking.

SOURCE: Adelaide University, news release, July 1, 2026