World No Tobacco Day | TCM has great tips for quitting smoking

Every May The last day is World No Tobacco Day, and tobacco harm is one of the most serious public health problems in the world. During the current COVID-19 epidemic, the rate of severe infection among smokers and people with chronic diseases is higher than that of ordinary people, so smoking cessation is particularly important.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that tobacco properties are “warm and dry”, while lit tobacco properties are “heat, poison and dryness”. During long-term smoking, smokers will lead to “lung qi”. stagnation”, which will eventually lead to chronic depletion of “lung atrophy”, and will cause many serious diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, etc.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, tobacco was introduced into China from the Philippines. Later Ming and Qing medical scientists also observed the toxic and side effects of tobacco on the human body. As recorded in “Southern Yunnan Materia Medica”, tobacco is “disturbing and unconscious…” “Bencao Huiyan” records that “if you eat it occasionally, its breath will be closed, and it will be suffocating like death, it is not a good thing to know.” Zhang Jingyue, a Chinese medicine practitioner, once said: “Smoke can disperse evil, but it will also consume gas”, and concluded that “smoke also damages people”. This aroused the attention of medical scientists and people of insight, and gave birth to the earliest awareness of smoking cessation.

In “Compendium of Materia Medica”, Zhao Xuemin, a physician in the Qing Dynasty, pointed out that tobacco “consumes the lungs and damages blood, and many people in the world suffer from it without realizing it”, and listed the damage caused by tobacco. Six disease syndromes of human viscera. For example, he said that his friend Zhang Shouzhuang coughed and vomited thick phlegm every morning, but the medicine stone treatment was ineffective. Later, he stopped eating cigarettes, and even “no cough in the morning, no phlegm and saliva all day long, and his spirit became healthy and his diet doubled.” This is the first case of smoking cessation recorded by a physician.

What can traditional Chinese medicine do in tobacco control? Some people of insight have summarized many good ways to quit smoking through clinical practice, such as quit smoking soup, quit smoking sugar, quit smoking tea, quit smoking alcohol and so on. In this regard, you may wish to try the following Chinese medicine-assisted smoking cessation methods.

acupuncture

relieves withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness, lack of concentration, headache , drowsiness, etc., by regulating the nervous system to eliminate smoking addiction, improve viscera function. Quit smoking point (sweet point), smokers usually have obvious pain when pressing this point. Chinese medicine will also choose to use electro-acupuncture, acupoint application and other methods according to the conditions of each patient, and combine other acupoints as appropriate to achieve better results.

Buried beans in ears

Chinese auricular acupoint therapy is widely used in various systemic diseases including withdrawal syndrome. By stimulating the corresponding reflex points, the purpose of using ear acupoint sticking to quit smoking is achieved. The practice results confirmed that smoking cessation with auricular acupuncture is closely related to the sense of taste. Most patients have obvious changes in the taste of smoke before and after treatment. After auricular acupoint sticking, they become bitter, pale, and tasteless, so that the desire to smoke is significantly reduced or disappeared. Stop smoking.

Generally, the doctor can choose the acupuncture points on the ear, stick the traditional Chinese medicine king without leaving the line, fix it with tape, and press it with food or thumb until it is sore or painful to get qi.

Chinese medicine

The smoke is dry and hot, and long-term smoking will make the internal heat hyperactive and exhausted Injuring the body fluid, refining the liquid into phlegm, phlegm-heat interlocking, and also leading to blood stasis. Over time can lead to yin deficiency and internal heat, phlegm and blood stasis, and induce various diseases. Chinese medicine smoking cessation is based on the above TCM syndrome differentiation, prescribing decoction or medicinal tea suitable for smoking cessation patients, or clearing the lungs and resolving phlegm, or removing blood stasis and dredging collaterals, or nourishing yin and clearing heat. Fundamentally regulate the functions of the viscera, balance yin and yang, control smoking addiction, and restore physical health.