Want to quit smoking? Try Solitaire!

Smoking is bad for health.Anyone who has ever tried to quit smoking knows how daunting a challenge that can be. Some people try chewing nicotine gum ‘til their jaws hurt. Others slap on a nicotine patch and try to fidget their cravings away. But would you ever guess that playing Solitaire could be the key to giving up smoking, while also having fun? For one New York Times writer, that’s exactly what happened. For her, solitaire serves many of the same functions as smoking a cigarette (“As a reward for having completed a task, as a mini-holiday from everyday stress, as a means of improving one’s mood without a doctor’s prescription, the game offers many of the same benefits as cigarettes, only it’s cheaper and doesn’t have the harmful effects of tar and nicotine.”). Apparently, it worked so well for her that she even recommends Solitaire to friends also trying to kick their smoking habit.

While no one, including the writer of this piece, is suggesting that the pleasure of playing Solitaire matches the pleasure smokers get from cigarettes, it can serve as a pretty good proxy. As the writer put it “…the pleasures of solitaire remind me of what I used to like about smoking.” So if you have a bad habit that you’re trying to exorcize, Solitaire may be the ticket. Just be careful, Solitaire is pretty easy to get hooked on, so you could be replacing one addiction with another!