Alternative Methods to Quit Smoking Cigarettes

There are many different alternatives to quit smoking which do not involve the use of medication or drugs. These alternative, or complementary therapies may address lifestyle issues not generally covered by conventional medicine.

These alternative quit methods include:

• Acupuncture to quit smoking
• Laser therapy to quit smoking
• Laser Acupuncture to Quit Smoking (eg: AcuQuit)
• Hypnotherapy (Hypnosis) to quit smoking
• Herbal cigarettes
• Electronic cigarettes

Are alternative quit methods the right choice?

1. If you feel an alternative approach might be worth a try, it’s important to be realistic in your expectations of how effective this method will be.

2. Be aware that alternative quit smoking methods can be expensive.

3. Some alternative quit smoking methods carry other significant health risks. With herbal cigarettes, for example, you still breathe in smoke that contains cancer-causing chemicals.

4. It’s important to be honest with yourself about whether you’re really just looking for a quick and easy fix to quit smoking.

Alternative ways to Quit Smoking Nicotine

The success of alternative approaches to quitting smoking can be difficult to measure in a clinical setting; so far, research is mixed or inconclusive. But the popularity of alternative medicine overall way beyond smoking cessation is hardly in doubt: A 2002 government survey estimated that 36% of Americans had used some form of complementary or alternative therapy within the previous 12 months.

Acupuncture to Quit Smoking

Acupuncture is a technique derived from traditional Chinese medicine that stimulates certain points on the body; for smokers, the idea is to attempt to reduce cravings and ease withdrawal symptoms throughout the body.

Common points of insertion include the ears, feet, and arms. Acupuncture is the most extensively studied among the alternative therapies used to quit smoking, but the research is mixed here too. A small study examining the effect of acupuncture alone and in combination with education found that acupuncture significantly reduced smoking. Acupuncture plus education was four times as effective as acupuncture alone.

Stop Smoking through Laser Treatment

The AcuQuit® treatment is Laser Acupuncture therapy (without needles). Our objective is to reduce your cravings for cigarettes and try stop the addiction.

AcuQuit® is performed by AcuQuit® therapists who are health practitioners registered with the Australian Government. They are qualified and experienced to perform this treatment.

For information on how AcuQuit® works click here.

The treatment will try reduce the physical symptoms of nicotine addiction and withdrawal (such as cravings) to enable people to quit smoking. The overall treatment time is approximately 45-60 minutes.

Our treatment is drug free and we do not use any quit smoking hypnosis or quit smoking hypnotherapy techniques.

Does Laser to Stop Smoking really work?

Does Laser to Stop Smoking really work?

There are many research articles available examining Acupuncture’s role in addiction and the potential for treatment to reduce and eliminate dependency.

Laser Acupuncture had an 84% success rate in recent research (Lim 2018) with many participants reporting they no longer had the urge to smoke. [1]

Laser acupoint stimulation does indeed modify the physical symptoms of withdrawal and makes it possible for motivated persons to succeed in overcoming habitual smoking of tobacco, concluded a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study. [2]

The most recent Cochrane Systematic Review (White 2014) states that the 2008 Kerr study on laser stimulation is strongly positive at both short and long-term outcomes. [3]

Earlier research had shown that Laser Acupuncture had a 71% success rate in heavy smoking patients. [4]

This external research suggests that Laser Acupuncture treatments and protocols may provide beneficial outcomes however other papers did not have the same findings so the evidence is regarded as mixed. The AcuQuit treatment is unique and so treatment methods and results will vary from available research. We encourage patients to make an informed decision knowing that success cannot be guaranteed with our treatment.

Quit Smoking Acupuncture Bookings

Click here to book your Quit Smoking Laser Acupuncture appointment online.

Alternatively phone us on 1800228784 to make a booking or for more information.

References

[1] Painless Laser Acupuncture for Smoking Cessation. Rodney Choon Huat Lim. Med Acupunct. 2018 Jun 1; 30(3): 159–162. Link

[2] Low level laser for the stimulation of acupoints for smoking cessation: a double blind, placebo controlled randomised trial and semi structured interviews. Catherine M. Kerr, Paul B. Lowe & Neil I. Spielholz. Link

[3] White AR, Rampes H, Liu JP, Stead LF, Campbell J. Acupuncture and related interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014(1):Cd000009. Link

[4] Laser-acupuncture reduces cigarette smoking: a preliminary report. Zalesskiy VN, Belousova IA, Frolov GV. Acupunct Electrother Res. 1983;8(3-4):297-302. Link