Smokers not risk takers by nature

Researchers in Israel have shown that smoking results from an inability to delay satisfaction and consider long-term effects, rather than from a heightened capacity for risk taking, according to a story by John Ericson in the Medical Daily.

The researchers, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, set out to explain why people continued to smoke given that most were aware of the long-term health risks attending the habit.

Their findings are published in the journal PLoS One.

In an article published in The New York Times, study authors Eyal Ert and Eldad Yechiam said their study rejected the common notion that smokers were inherently drawn to risks.

The Medical Daily piece is at: http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17859/20130728/smokers-smoking-cigarettes-quit-cessation-risk-taking.htm.