Stress
- Posted on: Dec 8 2016
As the famous line in the song goes, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” but what it doesn’t say is it can also be the most stressful time of the year. The holidays can take a lot out of us. From running all over town shopping (and spending money) to hosting guests. Fortunately, there is a natural way to help counteract the holiday stressors: acupuncture.
While most people think of acupuncture helping with pain, it can also help coping with stress. Chinese medicine recognizes the importance of identifying the specific emotions that accommodate stress such as anxiety, irritability, or depression. Some people feel alone and depressed during the holiday season which can result in chest tightness/heaviness, being anti-social, or shallow breathing. Some people are overwhelmed with busy holiday schedules causing them to feel anxious which could manifest as unrested sleep, feeling restless, or heart palpitations. Others may feel highly irritated and consequently fight with loved ones, get headaches, or induce digestive issues.
According to Chinese medicine, each emotion is attributed to affecting a corresponding organ’s energetics. For instance, irritability/anger affects the liver’s energy, which is why the acupuncturist will target points on the body that help rebalance the liver’s energy. Depression is attributed to the lungs which is why acupuncturists will choose points to lift the lung’s energy. Anxiety is highly related to fear, which is the emotion of the kidney, but also has a component of sadness, which is the heart’s emotion. The goal of acupuncture is to alleviate the symptoms the stress/emotions are causing so the patient can feel better.
Acupuncture’s mind-body connection has been helping people for over three thousand years. All humans have emotions, but sometimes they are hard to handle. So instead of the holidays stressing you out, come in for a treatment and get some relief. Now that’s a recipe we should all be following this holiday season!
Posted in: Acupuncture
