Laughing Your Gas Off
Dr. Jesse Haven of Naples Florida believes inhaling laughing gas instead of tobacco smoke on their Quit Day helps people find success in their cessation journey.
In a small study he presented before the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Haven reported that 40 percent of quitters who had the laughing gas were able to avoid smoking completely for the first three days of their quit effort. More than 90 percent of those who had laughing gas said their cravings were substantially reduced.
Dr. Haven’s theory is that laughing gas (nitrous oxide), the stuff you can get in the chairs of kind dentists, boosts dopamine levels that normally are depleted during withdrawal from nicotine.
In the years before the Civil War, people used to host laughing gas parties. Is it possible that I remember my mother saying they gave her laughing gas when she was in labor with me? Well, that might explain a lot.
