Acupuncture: A Way To Treat Stress & Anxiety? (Western Medicine View)
When looking at how acupuncture treats stress & anxiety from a Western Medicine point of view, the focus is on the nervous system. The nervous system can be broken down to the central nervous system (brain & spinal cord) & the peripheral nervous system (all other nerve pathways throughout the body). Within the peripheral nervous system, there is the autonomic (involuntary) and somatic (voluntary) nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system involves communication with internal organs & glands, whereas the somatic nervous system controls deliberate body actions that you control. Finally, the autonomic nervous system can be split into the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and the parasympathetic (“rest & digest”) nervous systems. These two systems can be regulated with the help of acupuncture.
To start, let’s look at the breakdown of how our body differs when the sympathetic vs. the parasympathetic nervous systems are engaged. Imagine yourself thousands of years ago as a caveman. You are sitting, relaxing, and enjoying some berries. Your parasympathetic nervous system is in control, with your body being focused on rest & digesting your food. All of a sudden a lion approaches, and your sympathetic nervous systems take over, which switches your body into survival mode. It causes your heart rate to increase, your blood glucose levels to rise to supply energy to your muscles, and your reflexes to quicken. In this state, your body no longer has the ability to regulate digestive, immune, or hormonal functions.
You would think, lucky for us, we don't have to worry about the sudden shock of encountering a lion in our day-to-day life, but in reality, our bodies are constantly in a state of “escaping a lion”. With the fast pace, high demand world we live in our bodies can't distinguish between “I have so many emails to answer & deadlines to meet and I don’t have enough time!!” and “Ahh there is a lion chasing me!!”
Stress is the feeling or reaction you get any time your brain feels threatened. This response is beneficial when you encounter a dangerous situation, but can be detrimental when it occurs in your day-to-day life. Things like work, money, relationships, as well as feelings of worry, sadness, and anger can all cause a stress response in the body. Constantly feeling stressed can inhibit the body’s ability to switch into the “rest & digest” state of the parasympathetic nervous system. This can result in problems with digestion (bloating, constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux), sleep (insomnia, fatigue), hormone balance (PMS, irregular menstruation, infertility, fatigue), emotional balance (uncontrolled anxiety, anger or sadness), as well as pain (headaches, body pain & tension). There is also an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes.
It is understandably hard to decrease the amount of daily stress we experience, given that we all must work, pay bills, and interact with people. This is where acupuncture can come into play. There are many ways that acupuncture can help rebalance your body to help give you some stress relief.
Acupuncture can stimulate the release of oxytocin, which is a hormone involved in the regulation of the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems. This helps reduce anxiety & stress and can improve the quality of your sleep to treat insomnia by regulating your circadian rhythm. Oxytocin has also been found to benefit digestion & fertility.
Acupuncture can also stimulate the release of serotonin & dopamine, which are hormones that enhance your mood and help combat feelings of depression.
Acupuncture can stimulate the decrease of cortisol levels, which is the hormone released when you feel stressed. This can help reduce brain fog, high blood pressure as well as excess weight in the abdomen. By relieving stress, this can also help treat insomnia by allowing the mind to relax.
Acupuncture stimulates the release of endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers. This can help with the pain & tension that typically come with stress as well as headaches & migraines.
Acupuncture can also interrupt the hyperactive pain signal pathways that cause chronic pain due to the brain being overwhelmed by neurotransmitters that produce the sensation of pain over time.
Acupuncture can stimulate the constriction of blood vessels and the release of vasodilators, which results in a decrease of cerebral blood pressure that causes headaches as well as general high blood pressure in the body.
Stay tuned for how acupuncture can treat stress & anxiety from a Traditional Chinese Medicine point of view!