Smoking not only costs money, it is anti-social and affects your health seriously. A smoker is easily prone to catching sore throats skin rashes, chest infection, asthma, stress, migraine and many more illnesses. When you are pregnant and you risk smoking it can easily harm your baby and there is a higher risk that your baby will be born premature or underweight.

Every day 300 people die as a direct result of smoking-the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every twenty-four hours. As an average smoker your habit may cost you over £800 a year, but nowadays more and more of Britain’s fourteen million smokers want to give up the habit—yet giving up is not going to be easy.

Even if you are really determined to stop you may have found that willpower alone is not enough. All over the world people have tried different methods to stop smoking. Nicotine Patches, Hypnosis, sometimes they work, very often they don’t.

Acupuncture is a tried and tested, proven way of providing help to stop smoking.

Acupuncture is a system of medicine which restores and maintains health by the insertion of fine needles into specific points on the surface of the body to rebalance and strengthen self-healing power. It can treat many conditions especially addictions, such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc. Over the last six years I have treated in the UK over 200 patients with tobacco addiction whose smoking histories vary from 2 years to 40 years. Among these patients about two third of them stop smoking completely after one session, also some of them reduce the amount of cigarettes greatly after the first session and stop smoking completely after two or three sessions. The rest of them needed a few more sessions or regular treatment such as once every 3 months to help control the craving for Nicotine which depends on their lifestyle and how stressed they are.

Usually if other family members are still smoking it may affect the desire of wanting to stop smoking. It is far better if a friend or colleague is trying to stop: the reason being that you can have treatment together and encourage one another day by day. Sometimes one may find it difficult to make a decision to seek for help/guidance. Quite often a husband will make an appointment for his wife to have Acupuncture treatment to stop smoking as a thoughtful birthday present, or a couple may come to stop smoking for Christmas. Life is interesting, isn’t it?

Acupuncture treatment, besides stopping smoking, helps the sufferer feel calmer, relaxed and happier, even releasing symptoms of Sinus, Asthma, Migraine, Stress, insomnia, etc. This is because Acupuncture re-balances the vital energy of the body-the Qi ( pronounced “Chee’ in Chinese) which flows continuously around the meridian system. An energetic network of channels that not only connects the acupuncture points to each other but also directly influences the functioning of the internal organs and other controlling systems of the body. Thee 14 channels and 361 points in the body, with each point having different functions to treat different problems.

In the treatment of stopping smoking we usually choose 6-7 points which connect to the lungs to rebalance its functions to stop the craving for nicotine. The common points used are Quchi (LI11), Hegu (Li4), Liequ (LI7), and Yingxiang (LI20). Add pointd Neiguan (P6) and Shenmen (H7) for stress, nervous or insomnia. Add points Taixi (K3) and Sanuinjiao (Sp 6) for general fatigue, tiredness. Add points Baihui (DU 20) and Zusanli (ST36) for Qi deficiency. Add point Taichong (LIV3) for depression of liver energy.

Liequ (LU7) is the 7^th point of the Hand Tai Yin Lung Channel. It’s a “LU” (collaterals) point. “LU” points connect internal to eternal, allowing the free flow of the energy.

Hegu (LI4) is the 4^th point of the Hand Yang Ming Large Intestine Channel. It is a “Yuan” (root) point. The body’s energy gathers a “Yuan” points. Disease in the internal organs is usually shown at “Yuan” points. By stimulating a “Yuan” point, the normal function of internal organs can be recovered. Hegu (LI4) should be avoided, however, for pregnant woman as its use can cause miscarriage.

Quchi (LI11) is the 11^th point of the Large Intestine Channel. It is a “He” (meeting) point.

Both Hegu (LI4) and Quchi (LI11) are points of the Large Intestine Channel. In terms of TCM theory, the lung and the large intestine are co-ordination together the body’s internal and external functions. This is why these points are chosen for lung related imbalance.

Some people imagine that acupuncture is a very long needle, sometimes even with a machine involved. It sounds painful and therefore very frightening. This is maybe why many people will not go to see an acupuncturist. In fact, people who have been treated by acupuncture don’t feel in this way. They think it is a very relaxed way to help them stop smoking, it works fast and there is no pain or side affects. But before they to see an acupuncturist you should make sure that the person is fully qualified and affiliated to one of the professional bodies, such a British Acupuncture Council, Association of TCM etc., and that they have relevant experience, also make sure that the needles used are pre-sterile disposable ones.

As I have said, sometimes willpower alone isn’t enough. Why don’t you seek help and guidance? Make a decision now and try to stick with it. Just take one day at a time and think of all the money you could save, it may lead to a new life.