Jenny Pietroski of South Paris isn’t a smoker, but she is becoming an expert on them and how their bodies respond to smoking. A senior at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, she has spent the better part of the past summer studying stress levels in the “occasional” smoker — those non-addicted smokers who light up for social reasons a few times a week and don’t smoke more than five cigarettes on the days they smoke.

These occasional smokers — called chippers — don’t always consider themselves “smokers,” but, according to numerous studies, they are being physically harmed by their habit just the same as those people heavily addicted to smokes.

Pietroski’s study looked at the heart activity of two groups of people: one group with a nicotine patch and the other with a placebo patch. The results? Read on. One thing’s for sure: She’s hoping her continued research will help convince chippers to quit the habit, no matter how occasional it is.

Why the interest in studying stress and smoking? After taking a course titled the Psychology of Health and Illness, I became interested in the damaging physiological repercussions we face every day resulting from work stress, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, academics, personality type, anxiety disorders, chronic diseases and many other psychological stressors.

What has your study revealed? Although in the past, researchers have found a significant relationship between cardiovascular activity and nicotine exposure, I did not find a significant difference between the nicotine patch group and the placebo group. Although the study did not correspond to my original hypothesis, it has given me direction for future research.

Do you anticipate your results will be used to help people make the decision to stop smoking? I hope they do! Although I did not find a significantly higher cardiovascular reactivity in the nicotine exposed group, there still was a change. Although the change was small, with repeated low nicotine dosages, there could be damaging health concerns (i.e. coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure).

Secondly, if I do find a significantly higher cortisol level in the nicotine group, then I may be able to suggest that occasionally smoking may affect the stress response. Higher cortisol levels have been known to damage the lining of our arteries, increasing the chance for plaque buildup and a possible heart attack or stroke.

Social or occasional smokers may deny that they are in fact “smokers” and fail to tell their primary care physician who would normally use this information to decide a course of action in their treatment. Perhaps this study will help individuals think twice before they smoke while going out to the bars or hanging out with fellow smokers.

Will the United States ever be smoke-free? In short, no. However, there are impressive organizations working hard to implement policies discouraging smoke and exposure to second-hand smoke. Nicotine is very addicting, as many individuals know too well, and is a difficult habit to break.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I hope to have earned a graduate degree in either clinical health psychology or become an occupational therapist by 2019. Either way, graduate school is in my immediate future and I hope to come back to New England and raise a family. I have thoroughly enjoyed going to school in Vermont and Saint Michael’s College has offered me a great opportunity to work one on one with an expert in a field I am very interested in. This field is very exciting and has the potential to help individuals live healthier, more fulfilling lives.