This post is about Chiropractor West Palm Beach: Acupuncture Helps Stress. Stress is defined as “a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation” (1). Psychosocial stress pervades modern life and is known to have an impact on health. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. For instance, negative changes such as an illness, injury, job loss, or a relationship break-up can contribute. Similarly, positive changes such as a promotion, a mortgage, or the birth of a child still produce stress.
Moreover, a state of continual stress ultimately wears out the body. And it especially effects the immune response and increases susceptibility to illness and slows healing. Researchers estimate that stress contributes to many major illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, endocrine and metabolic disease, skin disorders, and infectious ailments of all kinds, insomnia or other changes in sleep patterns, and/or gastrointestinal disorders. Most definitely, almost all body functions and organs are effected.
Chronic stress can lead to physical symptoms such as:
- headaches
- muscle tension in the face, neck, back
- shoulder/ chest pain
- an upset stomach
- elevated blood pressure
- exhaustion
- sexual dysfunction
- increase or loss of appetite
- problems sleeping
Acupuncture Can Help Your Stress
Firstly, acupuncture has been shown to help reduce stress and anxiety. Even one treatment has been shown to be of benefit. Additionally, with a full course of care, the benefits have been shown to last many months to a year.
Secondly, Acupuncture helps to reduce stress by balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. So Chronic stress can create havoc in your body. It can disrupt hormonal balance, which can influence everything else in your body. It can cause mood swings, thyroid issues, immune problems, and even fertility issues. Therefore, acupuncture can be part of a complete and holistic treatment plan to manage any disorder.
Lastly, not only can Acupuncture help you reduce stress, it can help improve your mood.
Our bodies release stress hormones
These include adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and cortisol. And the hormones create physiological changes to help us cope with the threat or “danger”. And the “fight or flight” response and is apparently designed to prepare one to face an immediate danger.
Firstly, the endocrine system gets activated with stress. The endocrine system plays an important role in regulating mood, growth/ development, tissue function, metabolism and reproductive processes. Furthermore, our metabolism is affected. Your hypothalamus located in the brain plays a key role in connecting the endocrine system with the nervous system. The hypothalamus sends Stress signals to activate the release of stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine (adrenalin) from your adrenal glands. Next, glucose (blood sugar) is produced by your liver to provide the extra energy. Thereafter, most people reabsorb the extra glucose when the stress subsides. However, for some people there is an increased risk of diabetes. Subsequently, the Cortisol released as a consequence to stress suppresses the immune system and inflammatory pathways. As a result, we become more susceptible to infections and chronic inflammatory conditions. In other words, our ability to fight off illness is reduced.
Secondly, stress can effect your gastrointestinal system. Heartburn and acid reflux might begin if you have changed your eating habits. For instance, you may be eating more or less. You may have started eating more fatty and/or sugary foods. So the ability of our intestines to absorb nutrients from our food may be reduced. The result may be stomach pain, bloating and nausea, diarrhea or constipation.
Thirdly, heart rate and blood pressure increase when you are stressed. Once the stress passes, it returns to normal. However, if chronically experienced, damage to blood vessels and arteries may occur. You will have an increased risk for hypertension, heart attack or stroke.
Fourthly, your respiratory system is working to breathe harder and more quickly with stress. This is to quickly distribute oxygen-rich blood around your body. For asthmatics, this could be a problem. For others it can cause hyperventilation. The last scenery is more likely if someone is prone to anxiety and panic attacks.
We can’t avoid stress in life, but acupuncture can help relieve your stress
Acupuncture improves blood flow and calms the nervous system. Researchers believe when an acupuncture needle is inserted, the sensory and proprioceptive nerves are stimulated. This sends a message to our brain and nervous system.
Our body’s enkephalins and endorphins are released. These are our body’s natural opioids and can dramatically relieve pain. Additionally, once these neurotransmitters are moving about, our blood vessels vasodilates. And this gets blood into the affected areas, initiating healing.
Recently, a team of researchers led by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School has looked at the underlying neuroanatomy of acupuncture that activates a specific signaling pathway. In this study, they specifically investigated acupuncture as a potential treatment for inflammation. They found “acupoints” or acupuncture points on the body’s surface are mechanically stimulated, triggering nerve signaling that affects the function of other parts of the body, including organs.
Research on Acupuncture and Stress
There is evidence that acupuncture decreases the stress response. Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive autonomic measure has been utilized to acupuncture interventions. This was in controlled academic settings to compare points used, types of stimulation, or the HRV parameters measured.
In one study, cases of patients presenting to a private acupuncture clinic was utilized. Moreover, these Patients received manual body acupuncture from published protocols for hypertension treatment.
So the Ancient Chinese Medicine doctors understood that a predictable-unchanging regularity of heart rate is a sign of disease, age, and stress. In contrast, a Variable heartbeat is a sign of good health. Therefore, Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive monitor of autonomic balance (eg, a measure of physiologic stress). Indeed, there is evidence that acupuncture decreases the stress response and increases HRV in both human and animal subjects.
Chiropractor West Palm Beach: Acupuncture Helps Stress
Acupuncture has been used for over 4000 years to treat pain and other health problems safely and effectively. The acupuncture treatment stimulates the pathways called meridians. This activates the body’s natural healing abilities. Ultimately, this brings balance back to your body. Acupuncture has a beneficial effect when treating many diseases and painful conditions.
Meiri Chiropractic offers acupuncture for Stress relief and many other ailments. Dr. Natalie Meiri is a chiropractic physician, board certified in acupuncture with over 20 years of experience. Call 561-253-8984 today to find relief from stress.
References: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4203477/
Med Acupunct. 2014 Oct 1;26(5):286–294. doi: 10.1089/acu.2014.1050
Does Acupuncture Reduce Stress Over Time? A Clinical Heart Rate Variability Study in Hypertensive Patients
Kristen Sparrow 1,✉, Brenda Golianu PMCID: PMC4203477 PMID: 25352944