Acupuncture is Highly Successful for Stopping SmokingWhat do you do if you want to quit smoking but no matter what you have done you are not successful? Many people feel that the best way to quit is to slowly reduce the number of cigarettes smoked. But really this almost never works. Others believe that the way to do it is to go cold turkey, just finish that package of cigarettes sitting on your desk and do not buy any more. Most times that can work. Still others use the patch, but even that is not one hundred percent full proof. With so many people trying to quit smoking a method that is gaining acceptance is the use of acupuncture to help a person quit. Acupuncture is the method by which a trained specialist inserts very thin needles in specific places to have very specific outcomes. The practice of using acupuncture to help with addictions goes back to the 1970s. The important part of this program is that those who come for treatment must truly want to give up smoking. They will not be successful if they are attending sessions to please a partner, parent or employer. Quitting smoking must be a strong desire not simply a passing whim. It is more difficult to cure those who began smoking young. It is a known fact that eighty percent of Americans begin to smoke before they see their eighteenth birthday. Nonetheless with acupuncture the success rate is high. One study reported results that said that after the first week of daily treatments sixty percent of those who choose to stop smoking did. A further twenty five percent of those who remained also stopped. Follow-up a year later claimed that ninety percent of those who quit smoking with the help of acupuncture did not start smoking again. This is a good outcome. The treatment is commonly done on points of the ear. The needles are gently inserted and then left in between fifteen and twenty minutes. As well, there are some body points that can be used but they are more often used when dealing with a person who wants to cut down slowly. The treatments seem to become effective quickly with it often taking only a few days before the taste of the cigarette becomes unpleasant to the person who at one time was a heavy smoker. Ear acupuncture is so beneficial that only ten percent of people do not respond favorably to this treatment. In one study of three hundred smokers, two hundred and seventy quit smoking. Of them thirty complained that the cigarettes tasted awful, thirty others complained of nausea when smoking and another group of thirty said it made them feel hot. Of the two hundred and seventy treated by acupuncture only twenty five percent started smoking again. Acupuncture is a non-intrusive inexpensive method of quitting smoking with a high success rate. Given that and the difficulty that so many people have even when they want to stop smoking it seems that it is an option worth...........read more |
