How can acupuncture help stress

From home remedies If you suffer from migraines chronic pain, you know just how terrible and life-altering it can be. It can be difficult to think beyond taking your next few steps, getting through Since the beginning of humankind the cold and flu have had devastating effects on entire populations. Now the coronavirus is making headlines. Although our medical advancements have greatly decreased fatality rates the cold, flu, and the coronavirus can still be Acupuncture proactively reduces stress.

After an extensive evaluation, your practitioner will determine the best points to place the needles on your body. Acupuncture sessions provide relaxation time. In addition to the healing effects the needles offer, the session itself calms and relaxes you. During this time, you can listen to soft music, rest your eyes, or even fall lightly asleep. There are no side-effects with acupuncture. Further, you can also rest assured there will not be any adverse drug interactions with your current medications.

Your acupuncturist will recommend a treatment frequency to help you achieve your desired stress-reduction objectives. When the fine needles stimulate nerves under the skin, the nerve sends a message to the brain, telling it to release our natural pain killers, called endorphins.

These natural brain chemicals cause us to relax and feel euphoric or happy. Acupuncture also helps our bodies naturally reduce inflammation and pain as well, which can both increase with chronic stress. Going to your appointment means taking much needed time for self-care.

Unlike popping a pill and soldiering on, scheduling and attending an acupuncture appointment adjusts your focus back on yourself. Part of reducing stress is changing our mindsets and habits. Not only is acupuncture effective in changing your internal stress-induced chemistry but maintaining a consistent treatment schedule helps you make time for yourself and re-prioritize your stressful habits.

Participants were people who studied or worked on a large, urban college campus. Those in both the traditional acupuncture and sham acupuncture group showed a substantial initial decrease in perceived stress scores within the first few weeks.

At 12 weeks post-treatment, the traditional acupuncture group showed a significantly greater treatment effect than the sham acupuncture group. The study also demonstrated that effects can persist for at least 3 months after completion of treatment.

In a study of 75 women with fibromyalgia, real acupuncture showed improvement for longer periods of time than sham acupuncture.

That being said, Vander Baan often uses specific acupoints for stress in her patients. In his practice, Sher uses DU at the crown of the head, to treat stress in the people he performs acupuncture on. Ren, located in the middle of the chest, is another point that Sher uses to target stress in his practice of acupuncture.

According to a review , studies show that acupuncture can be effective in treating people with obesity, possibly due to neuroendocrine regulation. Today an overactive stress response causes the body to chronically store excess weight. By down-regulating the sympathetic nervous system, acupuncture may help prevent and reverse the effects of the stress response on fat storage. To target weight gain associated with stress, Sher uses a combination of points that focus on stress as well as points that speed up digestion.

Sher recommends treatments two times per week to balance the body and ensure that the digestive system is functioning at an optimal level. It does this in part by switching off the sympathetic nervous system and activating the calming parasympathetic nervous system.

If you believe your weight gain has been caused by stress, acupuncture may be beneficial to you. The frequency of your acupuncture sessions will depend on your needs and goals.

Daley Quinn is a beauty and wellness journalist and content strategist living in Boston. You can see more of her work on her website. Many studies have focused on using acupuncture to manage pain, especially for headaches and neck, back, knee, and osteoarthritis pain.

But there…. Acupuncture may have some evidence-based benefits for anxiety symptoms. Researchers are still trying to determine the effect of acupuncture on…. Acupuncture can provide pain relief but does the buck really stop there? Acupuncture has a strong positive effect on stress. According to study of Western Medicine, acupuncture discharges endorphins and activates natural painkillers of the body. Many acupuncture practitioners noticed that acupuncture can decrease stress in patients.

Acupuncture may help to abide these energy blockages in the body. It is an ancient Chinese therapy that reduces the levels of proteins associated to chronic stress. It improves the energy flow throughout the body and eases the symptoms of stress.

Acupuncture provides a feeling of happiness, improved self esteem, higher ability to solve problems, clears decision making and thinking, better circulation and higher focus. All these benefits can help in relieving stress to an enormous extent. Stress activates the Sympathetic Nervous System while acupuncture activates the opposing Parasympathetic Nervous System of the body which begins relaxation.

It may reverse stress induced changes in biochemistry and behavior. It affects actual changes in the brain to reduce stress and make long lasting changes. Acupuncture decreases stress by releasing endorphins i. This therapy improves blood circulation throughout the body and boosts the amount of oxygen in tissues.