Got a Light?

02:00 AM Sep. 12, 2003 PT Smokers trying to quit may be able to throw out their nicotine patches if a British doctor's plan to use blinking dots to quell cravings works out as hoped. Dr. Jon May says certain visual tasks reduce cravings by distracting the brain. His team is working on a handheld computer program that displays a grid of dots that flicker randomly about 1,000 times per second. The blinking dots make "it harder to see (the cigarette) in your mind," May said, so the brain can't create images that strengthen the craving. Cravings last a while, he said, so "if you can get it early -- within 15 seconds -- you may have broken the cycle." source