During October, the nation’s eight million smokers will again be encouraged to take part in the mass participation quit attempt – Stoptober. We know that if you can stop smoking for 28 days you are five times more likely to stay Smokefree, and Stoptober leads smokers through a detailed step-by-step programme to help them achieve this goal (see http://resources.smokefree.nhs.uk/news/resources-for-stoptober-2014-campaign/ for information).
As well as the help and advice offered by the NHS many people turn to alternative medicine and complementary therapy as a way to help them overcome addictions.
Acupuncture is a proven therapy for dealing with all chemical addictions, in particular for people who want to stop smoking.
An ‘acupuncture detox’ technique was pioneered successfully with serious heroin addicts in New York in the 1970’s and the principles have since been transferred to problems encountered by people who wish to overcome tobacco addiction.
The method involves two or three short acupuncture treatments per week, mainly involving small ear press studs, together with herbal teas, dietary advice and reflective exercise classes such as Qigong, Tai-Chi and Yoga. Together this combination overcomes approximately 70% of the detox stress that occurs in the first 3 weeks of stopping smoking. Thereafter, acupuncture treatments help strengthen the mental-emotional connections to reduce the addictive tendencies and support well being.
Another therapy known to help smokers quit the habit is Hypnotherapy.
Our new hypnosis practitioner, Paul Hughes, explains how is works, “When you’ve decided that you’d like to stop smoking then hypnotherapy can help you. It helped me. It was the act of stopping smoking through hypnotherapy, which led me to think “I’d like to do that too…”
He continues, “Hypnotherapy isn’t magic. You wouldn’t be under anyone’s power. You’d simply be in a very deep state of relaxation with mental clarity and focus thrown in. Whilst we’re in that state we can make profound changes to the way we think, behave and feel. Any smoker knows the inner conflict when we try to give up smoking. Our mind is constantly at war with itself: “go on, just the one. You can start again tomorrow…”
Hypnotherapy cuts out this chatter. `It unites all of your mind towards one, single goal: life as a non-smoker. When you stop the conflict within your own mind, you also cut out the vast majority (or all!) of the cravings.
Giving up smoking is hard. Stopping can be so easy. Why not stop this Stoptober?
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