Acupuncture for mental health

Acupuncture is an underused tool, when it comes to mental health management. It's useful for many different mental health conditions such as anxiety, PTSD and CPTSD, depression, PMDD, grief, quitting smoking, and the list goes on.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the part of your nervous system that manages all the processes that happen automatically in your body. This includes things like breathing, your heart breathing, and digestion. The ANS further divides into two main components.

The first component is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). This component is activated when you feel stressed. It's what's commonly referred to as fight or flight. The purpose of the SNS is to keep you alive when you're faced with danger. There are a few main things that it does to achieve that goal.

When your SNS is activated, your body focuses on releasing all the sugar stored in your cells for quickly accessible energy. It also increases stress hormones such as adrenaline. Your heart rate increases to deliver these components where they need to be used through your circulation. Your breathing also speeds up.

At the same time, the SNS shuts down the processes that aren't immediately essential to your survival when faced with danger. Your digestion and reproduction are examples of systems that your body doesn't prioritize when in danger.

But how often are you really in danger?

The challenge is that your body can't make the distinction between real danger and generally stressful situations such as your work environment or an unhappy relationship. When you feel stressed, your SNS is activated, and many of your body systems connected to general health don't function optimally. In the long run, this leads to inflammation and potentially illness.

The other component of the ANS is the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). It's sometimes referred to as rest and digest, and is activated when you feel relaxed. This is the component of your nervous system that needs to be activated to break down inflammation and heal. Your digestion is one of the main body systems prioritized by the PSNS.

Because digestion is at the root of all health, when addressing any kind of physical ailment, it's important to work on activating the PSNS.

One of the things that acupuncture does really well is that it activates your PSNS. Many people find themselves falling asleep during their acupuncture treatment because they're so relaxed.

It also encourages your body to release endorphins, the feel good hormones that are responsible for runner's high. It's very common for people to feel emotionally lighter after their treatment.

Acupuncture also helps manage serotonin levels in the body. Serotonin is reponsible for many different processes, including mood management, digestion, cognition, and so many others.

Additionally, acupuncture helps release emotions that are stored in the body. When we avoid feeling our emotions as they come up, we stuff them down in the body. Over time, this can lead to chronic illness. The releases that happen during or after a treatment can take many different shapes. Some people have a good cry, while others have releases in the form of belching, flatulence, yawning, and the list goes on.

If you're curious about how acupuncture can help your situation, Christina offers a free 15 minute discovery session. Or, if you're ready to get started, you can book an acupuncture initial assessment.