Australian media began reporting this past week that the federal health department was giving cash reimbursements to employees who used hypnotherapy or acupuncture for smoking cessation. For many conservative medical practitioners, and for those who have not seen the science behind acupuncture’s benefits for addiction, this was seen as controversial.
Acupuncture has a very long history of use for addictions in China, and Americans might be surprised to find that acupuncture has been used in hospitals in New York State since the nineteen seventies.
The well respected Cleveland Clinic is now promoting acupuncture for smoking cessation on their website, due to the good research and clinical results behind it’s use.To see the Cleveland Clinic’s article on using acupuncture for smoking cessation, you can go here.
What Acupuncture For Smoking Cessation Is Like
Acupuncturists often use auricular acupuncture, or ear acupuncture to treat addictions, including smoking. In some cases small seed like needles will be taped onto specific acupuncture points on the ear, and the patient will be told to press these acupuncture points a few times a day to stimulate the brain. Stimulating these points has been shown to release certain neurochemicals that have an effect on modulating cravings.
There are obviously many good reasons to quit smoking, as the Dr. Oz website reports:
- With each inhalation of a cigarette, you breath in over 4,000 chemicals, including but certainly not limited to arsenic, ammonia, acetone, ammonium bromide, benzene, carbon monoxide, cadmium, cyanide, DDT, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, nickel, hydrogen cyanide, and hydrogen sulfide, in addition to at least 50 cancer-causing agents.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking causes death: nearly 443,000 deaths per year (1 in 5 deaths) to be exact. This is more than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined.
- Smoking increases the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, infertility, premature delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome.
- Cigarettes cause cancer: acute myeloid leukemia, bladder, cervical, esophageal, kidney, larynx, lung, oral (mouth), and stomach cancers.
- Cigarette smoking is associated with lower bone density in postmenopausal women, and increases the risk of hip fractures in women.
Acupuncture For Smoking
Why not try acupuncture for stopping smoking? Seek out a licensed and well qualified acupuncturist, who has specific training in helping you stop smoking.
If you have any questions you can call The Blue Ridge Acupuncture Clinic at 828-254-4405.
