Laser Smoking Cessation: Does It Work?

There are a lot of smokers in the US: forty five million, in fact. And every single one of them has a place or a mood where they smoke the most. Smoking while driving, bored, anxious, or on your cell phone is a calming habit. But as all habits go, the longer you practice it, the harder it is to break. A unique method of quitting that grabs the attention of a lot of people is laser smoking cessation.

Tobacco is so addicting because of the what it does to the brain. Nicotine releases the brains feel-good neurotransmitter, endorphins. While toxic on its own, nicotine comes with a lot of other harmful things like carcinogens and other bad chemicals that spread throughout the smoker's body like wildfire.

Laser therapy for quitting smoking, which started in Canada in the 1980's, offers smokers a different way to make sure that they don't take another puff. Unfortunately, even though laser smoking cessation has been on the market for thirty years, there is still no scientific proof as to whether or not it actually works. The FDA has not added laser smoking cessation as a valid form of quitting. Even though that is the case, many people still feel this is an effective form of treatment.

Stop Smoking with Lasers? How It Works

Contrary to what you would think, getting lasers shot at your face garners almost no pain at all. The laser practitioner is actually doing a procedure similar to acupuncture, using small laser beams of infrared "cold light" instead of needles. While lasers to quit smoking have only been used for thrity years, acupuncture has been used for over three thousand. While it has long been accepted in China, Western medicine has only begun to realize its benefits.

When nicotine starts to leave your system, which happens only a couple hours after your last smoke, your body begins to go through withdrawal. Smoking another cigarette releases endorphis, which calms the withdrawal symptoms. Since you have gone through this process thousands of time (calming withdrawal with a cigarette and endorphins) it's no wonder that quitting is so incredibly difficult. Laser smoking cessation also releases endorphins, but does so without all the harmful side effects of taking a drag on a cigarette.

Lack of Official Reception

While the laser smoking cessation does give a similar chemical response as smoking, study after study shows that it fails to outperform the control group. This implies that it isn't an effective way to kick the habit for good, regardless of whether it temporarily makes withdrawal symptoms subside. Using laser smoking cessation may be a good way to go, but it would be wise to use it with other quitting methods such as acupuncture, hypnotherapy stop smoking, or nicotine replacement therapy.