Try Something Different to Stop Smoking

Smoking cigarettes is a harmful habit, but it is also extremely difficult to quit. Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient in cigarettes, and it keeps a tight hold on mind and body, making it almost impossible for many people to stop smoking. The aids that conventional medicine offers simply don’t work for everyone. If you are in this situation, you may want to look into acupuncture.

Why You Can’t Quit

You don’t need to be told the potential negative effects of smoking. As a smoker, you are already experiencing the milder and more immediate effects on your health, like shortness of breath, and you’ve heard countless public service announcements about the long-term consequences. However, even knowing all these dangers to your health, you still haven’t been able to quit. Why is that?

Most people know that nicotine is the substance that gets you addicted to cigarettes, but you may not know why. Nicotine stimulates very specific parts of your brain and causes you to directly experience pleasure, quickly and easily. When you try to stop smoking, you deprive your brain of this pleasurable experience, and your body understandably reacts negatively. This is why trying to stop smoking results in such strong cravings alongside irritability. While some people are less affected by this chemical reaction and therefore have an easier time overcoming their cravings, many react so strongly that willpower alone is simply not enough to keep them from giving in.

Acupuncture vs. Conventional Medicine

Acupuncture is far from being a magical solution to your problem, nor is it always better than conventional medicine, but it can be a great alternative for many people.

The most common conventional method is to use alternate forms of nicotine to slowly wean yourself off your dependence on the drug. Other medications and even counselling are also offered as options to many who are trying to stop smoking. All of these can be very effective for some people, and should not be totally discounted, but it is always better to have more options for solutions to such a serious problem.

If you have tried to stop smoking before and the assistance option you selected didn’t work for you, acupuncture may be exactly what you need. Acupuncture offers a drug-free way to stimulate similar pleasure centres in the brain. It also helps you relax, reducing the nasty side effects such as heightened stress and irritability. Acupuncture can also help strengthen your system from the damage that the smoking has caused.

Acupuncture is also a great option if you just want to add something extra to your current plan to stop smoking. Maybe you are already going to behavioural therapy, but you would like some sort of physical aid as well. However, you may prefer to avoid medication for various reasons. In this case, acupuncture can be a great addition to your regimen. It is safe and has no side effects, so it can be much easier for people to accept as a treatment than some drugs.

If you live in York & you’d like help to stop smoking, contact Tiziana to schedule an acupuncture appointment today.