Needle This: Study Hints at How Acupuncture Works to Relieve Stress

 

Photo Credit: The Beauty Brains

 Acupuncture May Relieve Chronic Stress

'A new animal study showed that rats pre-treated with acupuncture had no spike in stress-associated hormones after being exposed to chronic stress.¹ On the contrary, rats that received no treatment or a sham acupuncture treatment had higher levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) along with other stress hormones.

It is the constant increase in stress hormones that is associated with many of the health problems linked to chronic stress, such as depression, insomnia and anxiety. In stressed animals that received acupuncture, stress hormone levels were similar to those in the control animals that were not under chronic stress, which suggests the ancient healing modality helps to normalize stress hormone levels.

Interestingly, the acupuncture point used in the study was a point on the stomach, which may work by tapping into the gut-brain connection.'

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