Today is national
no smoking day. There are now 7.2 million
adults in England who smoke. Are you one of them? Everyone knows smoking is
harmful to one’s health. Many smokers hope to quit smoking, but they find it very
difficult to stop. Acupuncture is an effective way to help you quit smoking.
When giving up smoking you
may experience several symptoms including irritability, headaches, dizziness,
cough, sore dry throat, constipation, increased appetite, runny nose,
depression, inability to concentrate or sit still, insomnia and craving for
cigarettes. These symptoms called nicotene withdrawal. Acupuncture
can reduce these symptoms by stimulating certain points on body surface or
ears. An important acupoint for quit
smoking is Tian Mei point
which is on your wrists. This point is specific to help smokers control their
cravings.
Many RCT reports have been
published in the past 30 years to support the efficacy of acupuncture in terms
of smoking. Fuller[1] (1982) used acupuncture to help 194
people (118 men and 76 women) quit smoking. 95% of
patients quit smoking after three acupuncture treatments.
Fifty-five (32%) of the 174 patients who replied to a mailed questionnaire said
they had not smoked since treatment; the success rate was: one week, 86%; six
months 41%; 12 months, 34% and 24 months, 30%. He[2] (1997) reported acupuncture may
help motivated smokers to reduce their smoking or
even quit smoking completely.
Different acupoints appear to have different effects for smoking cessation and reduction. Waite[3] (1998)
applied ear electric acupuncture to treat 78 smokers in a randomized,
single-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The result showed ear electric
acupuncture treatment was significantly more effective in helping volunteers
to quit smoking than
placebo treatment. He[4](2001) reported that adequate acupuncture treatment
may help motivated smokers to reduce their smoking,
or even quit smoking, and the effect may last
for at least 5 years. Acupuncture may
affect the subjects' smoking by reducing
their taste of tobacco and their desire to smoke. An observational study was
conducted by Ma[5](2015)
to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for smoking cessation.
A total of 1002 smokers were recruited; 26-week and 52-week quit rates
were 16.8% and 15.8%. A large sample multicenter observational study was reported[6]
(2016). The result showed abstinence rate in 2940 subjects was 34.00% in week 8
and 18.40% in week 52. The exhaled carbon monoxide level and the number of
cigarettes smoked per day were reduced significantly after treatment. The time
to relapse was calculated to be 38.71 days.
It’s time to quit smoking! Have you make up your mind? Maybe you
have tried a few times to quit smoking. Acupuncture can reduce your nicotine
withdrawal symptoms, and it is a natural, safe and efficient way to quit
smoking.
1.
Fuller JA. Smoking withdrawal
and acupuncture.Med J Aust. 1982; 1(1):28-9.
2. He D. Effects
of acupuncture on smoking cessation or reduction for motivated
smokers.Prev Med. 1997; 26(2):208-14.
3. Waite.A single-blind,
placebo-controlled trial of a simple acupuncture treatment
in the cessation of smoking.Br J Gen Pract. 1998; 48(433):1487-90.
4.
He D. Effect
of acupuncture on smoking cessation or reduction: an 8-month and
5-year follow-up study.Prev Med. 2001;
33(5):364-72.
5.
Ma E. Effectiveness
of acupuncture for smoking cessation in a Chinese
population.Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015; 27(2).
6.
Wang YY. Acupuncture for Smoking Cessation
in Hong Kong: A Prospective Multicenter Observational Study.Evid Based
Complement Alternat Med. 2016;2016:2865831.
I agree that the acupuncture treatment may help motivated smokers to reduce their smoking, or even quit smoking completely. I have a regular session in miami acupuncture complete my totally quitting in smoking.
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