How does stress affect the body & mental health? How does acupuncture help?

One of the most simple yet detrimental things we see affecting people's physical and mental health these days is stress 😣 When the body is put under stress, it responds by releasing a burst of hormones that trigger the body's "fight-or-flight", or sympathetic response. Typically, the pressure subsides, and the body returns to its normal relaxed state. BUT, the way so many of us are living today, in constant stress states, our bodies are not getting the break from these "fight-or-flight" hormones that it needs. And sometimes our bodies forget how to shift out of this mode into a calmer state when it needs to.

A constant release and build-up of these hormones can lead to many adverse effects on the body like:
🧠 The brain: affecting your feelings and emotions and, on a physical level, headaches and migraines.
🫀 The heart: causing high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and even coronary artery disease
💪🏻 The muscles: creating stiffness and pain
🍽 The stomach: experiencing things like acid reflux, ulcers, IBS, constipation, and diarrhea
😷 The immune system: weakening of the immune system causes frequent illness and infections
🩸 The reproductive system: it can create hormone imbalances, fertility issues, and menstrual irregularities

Taking a deeper look into the Chinese medicine perspective of it all, our emotions are closely related to our organs. The organ most associated with stress (and emotional stress) is the liver. The liver's primary functions are to store blood and regulate the flow of Qi, or energy, throughout the body. When treating the body for stress, acupuncture’s primary focus is the liver and resolving the qi stagnation that is residing there. Placing needles on the liver channel increases blood circulation to the organ restoring it to its optimal function.

The meditative state that regular acupuncture brings your body to also allows you to finally experience a routine break from your stresses and lowers the build-up of the "fight-or-flight" hormones. This also reminds your body how to switch back to “rest and digest”, or parasympathetic mode, so that it can get better at doing this on its own more regularly.

Wishing you a stress free day,

Better Balance