Acupuncture and Smoking

I try to leave smokers alone. I figure it's their choice. I used to be one of them - I started smoking in high school, and kept smoking a lot longer than I should have.

This allows me to say with conviction and experience that it is a filthy habit. I don't deny that it gives pleasure and relief from some of life's stresses and tensions, but it does negatively affect the smoker's physical health and, unfortunately, the physical health of those in the immediate vicinity of the smoker.

Today I read a study that revealed a correlation between immune system weakness in children and their exposure to second-hand smoke. I'm sure that you've already heard about the links between exposure to second-hand smoke and childhood asthma, but this new study says that exposure to second-hand smoke increases a child's risk of hospitalization from any infection by the following amounts:

• Exposure to second-hand smoke in the first six months of life increased a child's chances of being hospitalized before the age of 8 by 45 percent.
  
  
• In children with a low birth weight, this risk rises to 75 percent.*

Researchers concluded that second-hand smoke affects childrens' immune systems, which makes sense considering the links between smoking and cancer. If your immune system is functioning properly, you body will identify cancerous cells and eliminate them. If your immune system is not functioning properly, cancer cells will continue to grow.

To prevent these horrific risks to life and well-being, all you have to do is stop smoking. I help people do it all the time. Acupuncture helps curb nicotine cravings, but acupuncture to quit smoking works only when people are ready to quit.

I helped a man who worked in a smoky bar quit smoking, and he's still tobacco free. I've also seen several people relapse for the simple reason that they weren't ready to give them up.

Again, smoking is your choice. You just need to take responsibility for what you are doing to your body and immune system each time you smoke a cigarette, and try not to harm anyone else in the process.


*This probably has to do with the process of fetal development. The lungs are the last organ to form, and premature babies often have weak lungs. Also, the lungs continue to develop during the first two years of live, and studies linking air quality and childhood asthma are numerous.