Inserting needles into your skin may not be the first thing that comes to mind this new year. But to start 2024 in excellent health, you must try acupuncture.
Acupuncture is a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine that balances your energy flow. It believes that your energy or qi flows through different pathways in your body. Once any of those pathways get blocked, that’s when pain or diseases manifest. To combat this, acupuncture uses thin needles to remove the blockages and resume your body’s healthy energy flow.
If that’s not enough to convince you to book an acupuncture treatment, perhaps learning its benefits below will help you reconsider.
1. Pain Management
The most common reason p[patients seek acupuncture is its ability to manage pain. It does this by stimulating your central nervous system, releasing endorphins, your body’s natural painkilling hormones. It also stimulates the production of serotonin to improve your mood.
The great thing about acupuncture is it manages symptoms of several chronic and acute diseases, such as:
- Fibromyalgia
- Osteoarthritis
- Neck pain
- Back pain
- Sciatica
- Tennis elbow
- Temporomandibular joint pain (TMJ)
- Headache and migraines
You can use acupuncture as a complementary medicine with your regular medical treatments or use it as an alternative method for treating your pain. It’s non-invasive and doesn’t use medication, so it’s safer than other methods.
2. Stress Reduction
Whether it’s dealing with your medical condition or the daily tensions of life that are causing your stress levels to spike up, you can release your worries with a few sessions of acupuncture.
The treatment reduces stress by calming your nervous system and stimulating relaxation, so you feel rejuvenated after your sessions. Acupuncture also lowers cortisol, which is a hormone related to stress, while also increasing your endorphins.
If that’s not enough, it also reduces the symptoms associated with stress, such as headaches, hypertension, digestive issues, and muscle tension.
3. Boosting Immunity
If you’ve dealt with seasonal allergies or rhinitis, it might be time to try acupuncture. It helps boost your immune system, making you less susceptible to pathogens and viruses.
Acupuncture improves your blood circulation, ensuring better transport of your immune cells and nutrients. It also increases the production of white blood cells, enhancing your body’s defense mechanism against viruses, bacteria, and pathogens. Lastly, acupuncture is shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect, reducing chronic inflammation and supporting immune function.
4. Improved Sleep
If you’re struggling to get a whole night’s rest, regular acupuncture sessions can help improve your sleep. The treatment is shown to reduce the symptoms of insomnia by:
- Improving sleep quality
- Increasing total sleep time
- Decreasing anxiety
- Alleviating pain
In addition, electroacupuncture can regulate melatonin production, a hormone that manages your sleep-wake cycle. Thus, it reduces your wakefulness, increases non-rapid eye movement sleep, and reduces insomnia.
As mentioned above, acupuncture also reduces cortisol hormones to reduce stress. High stress levels are often associated with insomnia and disrupted sleep patterns, thus, affecting the quality of your sleep.
5. Emotional Well-being
Aside from treating physical ailments, regular acupuncture treatments can have a positive effect on your emotional and mental well-being. It stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonin to improve your emotional state.
A 2021 study shows that acupuncture has a positive effect on patients with Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) compared to its control group. In addition, a 2020 study shows that acupuncture helps patients with chronic pain and depression get better medical efficacy. The treatment can also be used on patients with a poor response or side effects with regular medication.
Lastly, you can use acupuncture as an alternative method to taking antidepressants. It’s considered safer since acupuncture doesn’t cause addiction or side effects when appropriately performed by a licensed practitioner.
6. Enhanced Mental Clarity
Aside from improving your emotional and mental state, consistent acupuncture treatments can have a positive impact on your cognitive function. It’s thought to balance your neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, to improve mental clarity and focus.
A 2022 study reveals that acupuncture can improve the brain function of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), making them comparable to healthy individuals. Thus, the researchers conclude that acupuncture can be used for treating MCI patients.
In addition, acupuncture can help alleviate the symptoms of brain fog, which is commonly characterized by confusion, forgetfulness, and lack of mental clarity. Acupuncture treats its underlying issues to support clearer thinking.
Ready to Try Acupuncture In 2024?
If you want to take advantage of the benefits of acupuncture, book your treatments at Lycoming Orthopedic & Sports Acupuncture. They have a team of licensed acupuncturists ready to personalize your treatments to help you achieve your health goals. Aside from acupuncture, they also offer dry needling, cupping, and electrostimulation treatments to help you obtain overall wellness. If you have questions or inquiries, please visit their website for more information.
