A Helmet for Aspiring Non-Smokers
June 26, 2012
Imagine a device that stimulates just the right part of the brain to cause smokers to resist their urge to smoke.
Recently featured on NoCamels.com, an Israeli innovation news site, this helmet-like device was developed for use in a smoking addiction study by Prof. Abraham Zangen in BGU’s Department of Life Sciences.
The participants in the study all smoked at least twenty cigarettes per day and all already attempted to quit smoking in the past using other methods. They were invited for thirteen sessions of fifteen minutes each, over a period of three weeks.
During these sessions, the fully conscious patients wore the helmet that sends magnetic currents to the brain and stimulates the nervous system.
“This is just the interim analysis but it is promising. Forty percent of the subjects in this subgroup quit smoking and we will continue the research in the near future,” say Prof. Zangen.
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