Smokers who quit smoking without advance planning actually are more successful than those who takes steps like choosing a quit day and strategy, HealthDay News reported Aug. 12.

Researchers Robert West and Taj Sohal postulated that building tension leads to decisive action. "In practice, worry about health and being fed up with the cost of smoking seem to be the main sources of tension that people can report," said West, of University College London.

"Planned quit attempts are implemented gradually and thus the level of motivation is probably rather low," said Boston University social and behavioral science expert Michael Siegel. "But these unplanned, sudden attempts probably reflect some sentinel event or great tension that precipitates a very high level of motivation to quit. And thus these attempts are more successful."

Siegel said the study suggests that more effort be devoted to motivating smokers to quit than on pharmaceutical interventions. Wise and Sohal said that public-health campaigns should focus on creating motivational tension, triggering action among those poised to quit, and supporting quitters with treatment and cessation aids.

The study appears in the British Medical Journal.