One of the most common reasons people seek acupuncture care is for quitting smoking. If you’ve dealt with any form of addiction, you can understand the struggle in stopping such a deep, habitual pattern. There’s a strong physical response to the regular exposure to nicotine throughout each day.
There are clearly emotional reasons for smoking. Most people find smoking a cigarette is calming their emotional state, so they use it to manage stress from hour to hour. The social bonding that happens between smokers can be an unspoken connection. And people enjoy the self-time and space that smoking a cigarette creates. It can become such a habit that there really isn’t much attention or intention when opening up the pack.
Acupuncture Can Help Quit Smoking
Acupuncture’s use for substance abuse has been studied since the late 1960s in our country. In the Bronx, a group of people went in search of an economical treatment for people addicted to heroin. Auricular, or ear, acupuncture was observed in Chinatown and brought to the Bronx. The Lincoln Recovery Center and Dr. Michael Smith began offering acupuncture treatments for addiction management in 1969. To this day, the Lincoln Recovery Center continues to see hundreds of patients per day in a community setting for addiction management.
Needles are placed at specific points in each ear that help manage the withdrawal symptoms that occur when limiting or restricting the smoker’s daily input of nicotine. These may be heightened irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbance, or headaches. However, the major effect of auricular acupuncture for those who are quitting smoking is to help reduce the intensity of cravings during this transitional time. Stimulating these points can soothe the nervous system in a way that creates less daily anxiety and fewer cravings for cigarettes.
Different Styles of Letting Go
I find that some people are able to decide to stop on a specific day and use acupuncture to help them through those first few weeks of being cigarette free. They decide within themselves that they are no longer a smoker. Some people cut down gradually over a couple of months until only a few cigarettes remain. Eventually, they can let those last couple go. Many succeed with the use of acupuncture along with nicotine replacement, using the patch or gum. Support groups can also be an important part for some in quitting smoking.
I tell people to do what they have to do to get through each day during those first few weeks. Scream in the car when you’re craving a cigarette. Take a break from alcohol for a while to help resist the temptation during that initial time of abstinence. Get rid of the chair you like to smoke in. Refuse to be around your friends who smoke, just during the few weeks that your body is letting go of the cravings. Focus your attention on the part of you that is committed to being a non-smoker.
Letting go of smoking is a difficult, courageous feat, as anyone who’s done it can tell you. It can be painful to let go of the crutch and sense of security that smokers come to know of their cigarettes. They’ve learned to smoke throughout the day to help manage the emotional ups and downs that come with life. Letting go of that can truly be like losing an old friend. Doing counseling and learning other tools for stress management can surely be an important part of quitting.
Toward a Healthier Life
I’m talking about quitting smoking here because it’s the most common addictive substance that people come to my office to help let go of. But, as the research and experience show, acupuncture can be useful for any type of addiction; from opiates to alcohol, gambling, shopping, or sugar. Please consider adding acupuncture to your quitting plan. It may really help make it easier to succeed and move onward with a healthier life.