It may come as no surprise – for women, there is a wrong time of the month to give up smoking.

But what is strange is that those who try to quit when they are premenstrual have more success than at other points in their cycle.

Women have more success quitting when they are premenstrual

More than 85 per cent of women who try after their periods fail, a new study shows.


Meanwhile, 66 per cent who ­­attempted to kick the habit after ovulation and before their next ­periods ended up smoking again. The findings were ‘potentially valuable’, said a Department of Health spokeswoman.



Differing levels of female sex hormones during the menstrual cycle were to blame for some women’s inability to quit, researchers believe.

During the follicular stage – ­before an egg is released – women were less successful. They can feel withdrawal symptoms more strongly or keep nicotine in their body longer, the study from the University of Michigan said.

‘More research is needed to understand the biological mechanisms underlying these differences,’ they concluded.

A spokesman for the anti-smoking charity Quit said: ‘Women reading this report shouldn’t panic about the findings, as there’s lots of help available regardless of the time of the month.’