People can either love or hate this time of the year, with the festive season often regarded as a stressful time of the year.
For some, the emotional strain of spending more time with relatives or the sadness of missing those no longer here. Loneliness, financial worry or perhaps driving to your holiday destination.
Stress can trigger a cascade of hormones that produce physiological changes such as digestive issues, sleep disorders, cardiovascular problems, weakened immune function, or simply muscle tension and headaches. Anxiety and depression can increase, causing social withdrawal, perhaps leading to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as increased smoking or drinking.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can assist with the effects to health stress may induce. It affects the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing muscles to relax and physical tension to ease assisting with sleep and digestion, and lowering cortisol (the ‘fight flight’ hormone) to reduce anxiety.
Clinically, depression is defined as having persistent feelings of sadness, despair, fatigue, and loss of interest. The pathophysiology of depression is regulated by the biosynthesis, transport and signalling of neurotransmitters [e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, or γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)] in the central nervous system ¹, all of which Acupuncture has been shown to affect.
Research shows that herbal medicines can modulate a broader spectrum of cellular pathways and processes to relieve depression. Chinese Medicine Practitioners will combine several herbs into specific formulas, based on the individual’s symptoms to achieve a beneficial therapeutic effect. ² This does not suggest the exclusion of GP prescribed medications if required.
To help you get through this silly season, find a registred acupuncturist today.
(1) https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1054726
(2) https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1217886
