Efficacy of a Short-bout Handgrip Exercise Intervention for Reducing Nicotine Craving in Tobacco Users: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The study is a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of practicing a set of short-bout exercises (10-second exercise) on reducing nicotine craving and withdrawals. Smokers, who have been abstinent from tobacco use for 9 hours, will join a guided exercise session using 10s-E or a healthy-diet (HD, control) intervention session, and complete a craving assessment before and 2 assessments after the respective intervention session.

1. Target subjects

At recruitment stage (hotspot or telephone follow-up), smokers with the following inclusion criteria (Appendix 1) will be invited to participate in an intervention and assessment session:

• Consume 10+ traditional cigarettes a day
• Aged 18 years or above
• Able to communicate in Cantonese
• Self-reported no serious injury of hands and arms
• Self-reported no mental illnesses

Before the intervention and assessment session, the invited participants will be assessed with the following eligibility criteria:

• Self-reported no smoking in past 9 hours before the intervention session
• Exhaled carbon monoxide <= 15 parts per million (ppm) or reduced by at least 50% compared to that measured at recruitment stage

2. Procedures Our recruitment staff (research assistants or student helpers) will approach smokers at the outdoor smoking hotspots, and introduce the RCT to the smokers. Potential participants will be assessed with the eligibility criteria, and asked to test their exhaled carbon monoxide with a Bedfort Smokerlyzer to confirm their smoking status. If eligible, they will be asked to participate in the intervention and assessment session of this RCT.

Our telephone interviewers of other smoking cessation trials, which have similar eligibility criteria as the present trial, will ask their participants during their telephone interviews if they currently consume 10 cigarettes or more a day and other eligibility criteria. If eligible, they will also be invited to participate in the intervention and assessment session of this RCT.