Stress is a natural part of life.  As a mother of two small children, I know what it’s like to be constantly running from babysitter to school to work, making dinner, cleaning up and then to violin lessons, laundry, paying bills, checking e-mails, etc.  It seems that life moves faster and there’s no time to slow down.   The never-ending hectic lifestyles and inability to handle stress, has caused major illnesses in America.  Stress can come in many different forms such as anxiety, insomnia, depression, obesity, and fatigue.  There are various techniques you can use to relieve stress.  Maybe you have tried a few different techniques such as yoga, deep breathing, listening to relaxing music, massage and meditation.  If those techniques are not effective enough for you, then you should try Acupuncture.

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing art that involves inserting fine needles at very precise acupoints throughout the body. The needles stimulate the body’s natural healing processes in its energy system. Traditional Chinese Medicine states that energy or Qi (pronounced “Chee”) flows through the body system through channels or pathways called meridians. There are 14 meridians that run vertically throughout the body.  Stress causes an imbalance in the body’s Qi and causes it to flow improperly. The Qi can become blocked and stagnant.   It must be unblocked and flow freely in order to restore harmonious balance to the body.  Too much stress can cause the Qi to be blocked!  By stimulating the proper acupuncture points, the Qi can flow freely, thereby alleviating stress induced mental and physical symptoms. In Modern Medicine, researchers have discovered that the lesions produced by inserting a needle into a specific acupuncture point on the body, stimulates parts of the brain that then activates the principal survival systems – nervous, endocrine, immune and cardiovascular systems.  Acupuncture normalizes physiological homeostatis and promotes self-healing.  When needling for stress and anxiety, specific points are needled to activate reflexes to the brain, which creates a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to promote self-healing.  When we stress too long, we overuse our sympathetic system, we become exhausted because of consuming stored energy.  Our immune system becomes suppressed and we are more likely to get sick, become sensitive to pain, and are not able to handle stress.  With Acupuncture, the sympathetic nervous system is able to calm down and the parasympathetic system becomes active.  The Parasympathetic system helps us to relax i.e. ensures proper food digestion, which helps us to absorb and supply energy to the body.  Acupuncture helps to balance these systems thereby decreasing our stress and improving our health.