Go toward the light if you want to quit smoking, lose weight, or find relief from chronic pain, say proponents of laser therapy, a low-level laser treatment that claims to cure what ails you.

Think of it as a high-tech form of acupuncture; instead of needles, a cold laser is applied to various pressure points on the body (the points are determined by the patient’s goals), which then stimulate the body to produce endorphins, chemicals that help decrease stress, increase energy, and naturally suppress pain and appetite.

With the feel-good chemicals flooding the patient’s body, lifestyle changes won’t seem so drastic and withdrawal symptoms won’t be so painful.

The procedure itself is simple enough. Amy Gillum is a trained laser therapy technician and operations manager at Life Laser in Clive, IA. Gillum underwent an 80-hour training course in Boston and consults weekly with Dr. Nicole Harmel, a chiropractor and acupuncturist in nearby Bondurant, Iowa, who oversees the medical aspect of the business.

After Gillum briefs new clients on the procedure, she takes them into a small, dimly-lit room where the treatment takes place. Clients then sit back in a comfortable chair, and Gillum fires up the shoebox-size machine. She then presses the pen-shaped laser onto points on the client’s face, arms, legs, back, and/ or stomach for about thirty seconds per spot. There’s no pain since the laser is low level; in fact, you won’t feel a thing. In about 15-20 minutes, customers are out the door and on with their lives.

The smoking cessation and weight loss treatments are the two most popular at Life Laser, which has serviced around 500 customers since it opened a year ago. Dave Lappin, vice president of sales at the Clive location, says every body will respond differently so there’s no set amount of treatments, but typically more than one therapy session will be necessary to make results stick.

There are also no side effects, a common concern with smoking cessation or weight loss drugs, though people with active cancer, a pacemaker, or who are pregnant should not undergo the treatment. Besides these people, though, the procedure is virtually risk-free. Manufacturers of lasers in the United States are currently in the final steps of obtaining an FDA approval for the treatment, and low-level laser treatment has been used in Europe and Canada for over four decades.

Of course, the big question is, does it work? Well, in Europe and Canada the treatment reports the highest success rate of smoking cessation when compared with other treatment options. And a 6-month placebo-controlled study by Middlesex University in the United Kingdom found that laser therapy to quit smoking had a 60 percent success rate—twice as effective as nicotine gum or patches.

According to the American Lung Association, an estimated 20.6 percent of adults 18 and over are current smokers. Since a pack a day can run you roughly $1,638 per year (not to mention the plethora of health risks) anything that can help you quit is worth exploring.

Like anything that sounds too good to be true, though, there is a catch. Laser therapy only claims to battle the physical aspects of nicotine addiction or overeating; the psychological attachments are a whole other battle. Lappin is upfront about acknowledging that the treatment won’t work for people who don’t make changes in their lifestyle. He says, “We’re going to make you feel different in your body, but you’re going to need to make better decisions. They need to want to quit.”

That means that if you keep smoking or overeating out of habit, even when your body tells you otherwise, you’re not going to see a difference. That’s why Life Laser also offers a maintenance program that includes a detox plan, advice for nutrition and exercise, and take-home information for follow-up support. Says Lappin, “If you’re focused and committed, when those obstacles get in your way, you’ll just knock them down.”