Among current U.S. adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit smoking and millions try to quit every year.
If you have attempted to quit smoking, you know how difficult it can be. Nicotine is a powerful addiction. In fact, research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol.
It is estimated that most smokers will attempt to quit two or three times, or more, before finally kicking the habit. When conventional methods to quit smoking have failed, smokers often look outside mainstream approaches and turn to alternative medicine.
What Acupuncture Can Do For You
Break the Cycle – Minimize the anxiety & discomfort of nicotine withdrawal. Acupuncture has turned a growing number of cigarette cravers into permanent ex-smokers and is a great adjunctive therapy for all types of addiction recovery. In fact, researchers say that acupuncture is a promising treatment for all types of addiction from cigarettes to heroin.
Acupuncture can detoxify the body of nicotine. Modern science has confirmed that smokers develop higher levels of nicotine-induced endorphins, and acupuncture stimulates the nervous system naturally to regulate the amount of endorphins in the body and helps clear away nicotine buildup. Unlike the patch, acupuncture actually rids the body of nicotine instead of adding more to it.
Acupuncture helps to eliminate the mental and physical symptoms of withdrawal. Acupuncture is highly effective in calming, and relaxing the mind, enhancing the ability to concentrate, minimizing anxiety and alleviating feelings of depression. In addition, acupuncture successfully suppresses appetite and diminishes food cravings.
In one study, a team from Yale University successfully used auricular (ear) acupuncture to treat cocaine addiction. Results showed that 54.8 percent of participants tested cocaine-free during the final week of treatment, compared to 23.5 percent and 9.1 percent in the two control groups. Those who completed acupuncture treatment also had longer periods of sustained abstinence compared to participants in the control groups.
Another study conducted at the University of Oslo, Norway, acupuncture was found to significantly reduce the desire to smoke up to five years after the initial treatment. Subjects of the study also reported that cigarettes tasted worse than before treatment and that the treatments had effectively reduced their taste for tobacco.
The acupuncture needles used are hair-thin. They are superficially inserted into various points in the ears and body to assist with smoking cessation. In between treatments, small pellets are often taped to the acupuncture points on the ear. When a cigarette craving hits, gently pressing on the pellets stimulates the acupuncture points to calm the mind and eliminate the craving.
Acupuncture is not a panacea or a magic cure in the treatment of any addiction, including smoking. But, acupuncture is effective in making it easier to quit and remain smoke-free for good.
If you would like to quit smoking the most natural way please call us at (425) 392-8881 and schedule for your free consultation to find out how drug-free, all natural alternative medicine can help you to thrive!
