Can Acupuncture be used to Stop Smoking?

Although many people have managed to quit smoking on their own, the majority have tried to quit and found that they just couldn’t do it. They may have tried numerous times with no success, because the addiction in their bodies was too strong for them to fight. If you are one of these people who really wants to quit but haven’t been able to, then you might want to consider acupuncture as an alternative form of treatment.

Acupuncture hasn’t been used in the United States for very long, but it has been proven to work as far as helping people kick the smoking habit. There is no scientific basis for why the procedure works, but many people swear that it helped them stop smoking very quickly.

Even though there is no scientific evidence as to why acupuncture helps people stop smoking, there are some theories. Acupuncture is based on pressure points, called acupoints. When the therapist places the needles on the body, he is doing so to relax these acupoints and relieve the body of its health problems. Somehow, although this is contrary to American medicine, it does work.

Nicotine is the substance in cigarettes that is so addictive. It releases a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine into the brain. Acetylcholine is responsible for stimulating muscles, and it also activates short-term memory and excitability. The lack of this substance has been linked to Altzheimer’s Disease. Some people believe that acupuncture is able to help the person control their smoking habit because it takes over and triggers the same responses in the brain that nicotine does.

Acupuncture apparently stimulates the same neurotransmitters to produce acetylcholine which recreates the effects on the brain so that people cease to need the nicotine. This thinking is way outside the box, and has taken those who practice acupuncture by surprise.

Of course, with no scientific evidence to back up the claims, it’s all still just conjecture. The process will need to go through further testing in order to discover for sure if acupuncture is really produce the same neurotransmitter. It is possible, however, that in the future acupuncture may replace hypnotism as the alternative treatment of choice for those who are looking to quit smoking.

There is enough private evidence, however, to cause people to try acupuncture as a method of stopping their smoking habits. Word of mouth from satisfied customers has been a driving force in the movement.

So, the moral of the story is that if you have confidence that acupuncture will help your stop smoking, you should try it. After all, if you’ve tried to stop smoking over and over throughout your life, and nothing you’ve tried has worked, you might as well give acupuncture a try.

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