If you’ve been thinking about trying acupuncture, but you’re still wary of the process, this article is for you.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing tradition with a rich and complex history. Its origin isn’t very clear, but it’s been a common practice in China for (potentially) thousands of years and likely first appeared in America sometime in the 1800s.
Today, acupuncture is one of the most effective and sought-after holistic healing techniques that we’ve got. Although its popularity is increasing, there are still some that are skeptical of the benefits of acupuncture. Having needles inserted into your body tends to scare some people away, but actually, these needles cause no pain and most patients don’t even feel them.
In this post, we’re going to discuss 7 of the many benefits of acupuncture that you should know about before swearing it off. Read on and you’ll learn a bit about how acupuncture works, as well as the amazing effects that it can have on the body. Before you know it, you’ll be scheduling an acupuncture appointment ASAP.
1. Reduces Anxiety and Stress
Acupuncture is proven to reduce feelings of anxiety over a number of sessions. As the needles are applied, and in the aftermath, your central nervous system is stimulated and releases various mood-enhancing chemicals. Restoring balance and producing energy are some of the main reasons people seek out acupuncture treatment.
If those anxious feelings have taken hold of you, don’t hesitate to try acupuncture for anxiety. Book an appointment at the Center for Health and Well Being ASAP.
2. Improves Your Quality of Sleep
If you’re not sleeping enough and getting good quality sleep, then you’re putting yourself at risk of various other mental and physical issues down the road. For example, lack of sleep is directly linked to both depression and heart disease.
When you go through acupuncture, you increase your body’s ability to produce melatonin, which is the hormone that regulates your sleep cycle. Insomnia is a widespread problem because of a chronic lack of melatonin resulting from our busy modern lives. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping through the night, booking an acupuncture appointment is a great natural alternative to sleeping medication.
3. Helps With Menstrual Pain
80% of women experience menstrual cramping at some point in their lives. 10% of those women experience such pain that it disrupts their day-to-day when it comes.
A small study in 2013 found that acupuncture was just as or more helpful in dealing with dysmenorrhea (painful periods) as drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin. In an earlier study with 649 women, a series of 15 acupuncture treatments was shown to be more effective in dealing with period pain than the usual treatments.
4. Supports Your Immune System
The immune system is your body’s best defense against bacteria, fungi, and various toxins that cause illness and disease. The way we live today presents various challenges to our immune system; namely, our poor diets, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise prevent the immune system from functioning optimally. Conversely, an overactive immune system can lead to a litany of autoimmune diseases, like type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
Acupuncture helps to stimulate and balance the immune system by increasing the amount of red and white blood cells, as well as T-cells – the immune cells. These work to keep your immunity high against all harmful pathogens that your body encounters on a daily basis. A balancing of the immune system will ensure that the likelihood of autoimmune diseases goes down.
5. Controls Blood Pressure
High blood pressure (hypertension) is an affliction that affects around half of the population of America. Living with hypertension makes you more vulnerable to heart disease and stroke, both of which are leading causes of death in our country. When your blood pressure is high, it means your blood is pushing harder on the walls of your arteries as it flows through your body.
Acupuncture seems to improve overall heart function and blood flow. There have been numerous studies indicating the effectiveness of acupuncture in lowering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which you can read about here. In combination with the proper medication, exercise, and a change in diet, acupuncture can help those with hypertension get their condition under control – something only half of those with high blood pressure feels confident about.
6. Alleviates Digestion Problems
If you’ve got any digestive issues, then acupuncture might actually be the best possible treatment for you. Various studies have been done on the effects of acupuncture on things like heartburn and other symptoms of reflux, indigestion, and IBS. It does this by supporting the digestive system and all of its organs, while also rebalancing energetic fields in your body.
When you show up for your acupuncture appointment, the practitioner will find the acupuncture points based on how you’re feeling that day. So, whatever your symptoms are, they’ll be attended to so that you can alleviate your digestive problems. Combined with medications, symptoms of chronic digestive problems can be managed very effectively.
7. Overall Pain Relief
Most people go for acupuncture to manage back pain and inflammation all over the body. Whether it’s an injury that you’re constantly dealing with or you’ve got pain from something else, like cancer treatment, acupuncture can be one of your primary methods for coping with it.
The technique of acupuncture is perfect for reducing the tension that builds up in the back, neck, and joints. If you’ve got inflammation in these areas for whatever reason, it can get to the root of that as well.
For those that have undergone surgical or other types of treatments that induce pain, acupuncture can help to reduce recovery time and trigger the immune system to increase the body’s natural healing abilities.
Taking the Benefits Of Acupuncture Into Account
Now that you know a little bit about how acupuncture works, as well as some of the more common acupuncture health benefits, it’s time to phone up the best acupuncture treatment facility. At the Center for Health and Well Being, we’ll allow you to experience all of the benefits of acupuncture that were discussed here.
Scheduling an acupuncture session couldn’t be any easier. Just fill out the necessary forms, then contact us to book an appointment ASAP.