Healthy Living
Prevention / Acupuncture and Smoking Cessation
Does acupuncture hurt?
No, very little pain is involved with the acupuncture procedure.
Is this treatment guaranteed to stop me from smoking?
There is no guarantee that this procedure will work for you, but it is a proven, safe and effective approach. Your acupuncturist will do their best to make your therapy a success.
How does the acupuncture work?
The easiest explanation is that it works with and affects a refined, micro-environmental level of electrical energy in the body. Needles are used like control rods in a nuclear plant; they either increase or decrease the amount of energy in a particular circuit. There are 12 major circuits (meridians) in the body. Each meridian has between 12 and 100 locations or points where needles may be inserted to affect the flow of energy. Commonly, for treatments to help you stop smoking, you will have needles inserted into several points of your body and they will remain for several minutes. Although it may sound painful, you should experience very little or no discomfort during your acupuncture treatments.
What will this do to stop my smoking?
The needles will turn off the “circuit” that controls the activity associated with smoking…the same effect on your smoking that turning a light switch off has on a light bulb.
What about weight gain if I stop smoking?
One study says that the average smoker takes eight drags of each cigarette. This means that for every pack of twenty cigarettes you smoke in a day, you bend your elbow up to your mouth 160 times. If you take that number and multiply it by 365 days, the one-pack-a-day person bends his/her elbow to smoke a cigarette 58,400 times per year; the two-pack-a-day smoker 116,800 times a year; and the three-pack-a-day smoker 175,200 times per year!
As you can see, smokers spend a lot of time bending their elbows to put something between their lips - therefore, it is no wonder so many people have problems with weight gain after they quit smoking. The acupuncture you will have today usually turns off this “greased elbow” response by taking away the desire to smoke, and the usual withdrawal symptoms experienced when you quit on your own are not experienced with acupuncture (anxiety, irritability, restlessness, etc.). The acupuncture patient usually does not feel compelled to replace cigarettes with food. However, for those of you who do experience an increase in nibbling and snacking, we offer the following advice: Clear out your kitchen of all dangerous snacks, i.e. anything that is basically sugar/fat. Keep on hand a supply of vegetables and fruits; carrots are especially good. Prepare carrot sticks, or whatever, so that they are readily available whenever you want to nibble.
Source: Dorrin M. Birch, M.D.
Perrysburg, Ohio
