Acupuncture – An Aid to Quit Smoking

Acupuncture is based on the ancient Chinese Medicine to treat a disease with needles. They believe that living beings have a vital energy known as ‘qi’, which circulates through twelve invisible energy lines on the body called meridians. Every organ in the body is associated with a meridian. Imbalance in the flow of energy through a meridian causes a disease. Acupuncture is known to Help to quit smoking with an additional effort by the smoker. It is found that 40% of smokers who used acupuncture with anti-smoking counseling were able to stop smoking successfully.

Acupuncture uses tiny needles of various lengths and sizes to stimulate the skin in a particular area on the human body. The area for stimulation is chosen based on the meridian that provides energy to the affected organ of the body. Acupuncture to quit smoking requires inserting needles in the areas which affect energy flow to the mouth, lungs, respiratory system and the parts of the brain which generate craving for smoking.

Acupuncture helps to relax and divert stress that’s leads to smoking. It also balances the body and helps to detoxify the body after quitting smoking. It also reduces the nicotine craving. Acupuncture is known to reduce the desire to smoke and make cigarette taste bad.

Generally a combination of body acupuncture points and points on the ear are used to treat smoking as they are known to influence the smoking organs. The most commonly used ear points are shenmen, kidney, sympathetic, lung upper and lung lower and mouth. The treatments last from 5 to 30 minutes and the treatment is given one or two times a week. The side-effects of acupuncture are slight swelling, soreness or bruising.