Can you use a laser treatment to stop smoking? Sure you can. It works in much the same way that meditation helps people to overcome physical pain.
Huh? What does that mean? It means that it is largely a placebo effect, and if you pay good money for a laser treatment to help you quit smoking, then you might get good results simply based on the money you paid.
The problem with laser treatments for smoking is that they have not done any rigorous studies yet. They have been asked to produce some studies to verify that the technique actually helps people, and they have failed to do so.
Basically what needs to happen is this: a group of people needs to be split into two, and they all must be smokers who desire to quit. One group receives the laser treatment, the other group receives a “fake” laser treatment. Neither group is told whether they are getting the fake or the laser treatment. In fact, the people administering the study cannot be allowed to know which laser treatment they are administering. Only the organizers of the research, who will eventually collect all the data and determine the results, will know which group had the real laser treatment and which had the fake laser.
The laser treatment industry will not subject themselves to this level of testing (known as a double-blind study, which is a very high standard) because they know they will fail the test. They are selling people something, but it is not a very helpful laser treatment. What they are selling is a worthless laser treatment that people believe has the power to help them. Does it? Only to the extent that the placebo effect can work on someone. Only to the extent that they want their 500 dollars to really help them to quit smoking.
What is the alternative? The alternative is to use hard work and serious action to quit smoking. Set a quit date, find support systems, start exercising every day, and find other helpful strategies on this website that will allow you to put in a ton of effort and get the results you really want. Sound like fun? Not really.
Quitting smoking is actually a lot of work, so most people would rather pay 500 dollars and have a laser shot into them, in the hopes of a magic cure. Talk about a waste of money. If this stuff really worked it would cost 5 thousand dollars, not 5 hundred. Save your money.
