Having trouble kicking the nicotine habit? If at first you don’t succeed …

Even if you’ve tried to quit smoking before to no avail, don’t give up. A new study shows that trying again right away could improve your odds of success.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin analyzed 437 smokers who fell short in their bid to kick the habit. Participants were split into two groups: One was encouraged to immediately try again while the other waited at least a month to again try to quit.

Of the group that was encouraged to try quitting right away, 83% pursued treatment that consisted of both stop-smoking medicine and counseling. That compared with 56% of participants in the other group.

“Sometimes people think they need to wait to quit until all the conditions are perfect, but it turns out that’s rarely, if ever, the case,” said lead researcher and UW professor Tanya Schlam. “Think about it: When will you ever have no stress? So, just going for it tends to work better.”

The researchers say one possible reason for the difference between the groups in seeking treatment is losing momentum over time.

“Sometimes, medical professionals are hesitant to ask patients if they’d be interested in quitting smoking and to ask them to consider quitting again after they relapse,” Schlam said. “But most of our study participants were up for it, and that’s great news. We needed to know how to help them. Now we know the answer is not to wait.”

The study was published online in the journal Addiction.