FIVE COMMON CONDITIONS THAT ACUPUNCTURE CAN ASSIST WITH BY MICHELE JOHNSON, ZEN CHI.

Acupuncture can help ease pain, but did you know it can be effective for other health issues, like allergies, anxiety, and depression?

Five “common” conditions that acupuncture can assist with:

• Seasonal Allergies One well-researched effect of acupuncture is reducing inflammation throughout the body. Acupuncture stimulates chemicals that reduce swelling and unwanted immune responses and allergic reactions.  Acupuncture also helps strengthen the digestive system, which can be a source of unrecognised inflammation, making allergies worse.

• Digestive Complaints Gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, or bowel changes are signs that there is something going on in your digestive system. Acupuncture is known to regulate digestive functions. In fact, there is an entire school of thought in Chinese Medicine that treats the digestive system for any illness based on the belief that when the gut functions properly the entire system can maintain its balance.

• Sciatic Pain Sciatic is a painful disorder caused by the compression of the sciatic nerve – a very long nerve that begins in the lower back and branches down into each leg, continuing all the way to the feet.  Those who experience it will know sciatic pain is challenging to calm with over-the-counter medication.  The pain can be felt anywhere along the nerve and keep you from enjoying daily life. Acupuncture can be incredibly useful in treating sciatic pain. It is worth a try.

• Insomnia Insomnia can come in many forms. Some people have difficulty falling asleep while others feel tired only to find that as soon as they lie down, their brains are too active. Others have no trouble falling asleep but wake up during the night – usually between 2am and 3am – and have trouble going back to sleep. Some people struggle with both falling and staying asleep. Properly placed acupuncture needles coupled with Chinese herbal medicine can be life changing for people who needs to get more ZZZZZs!

• Anxiety, Stress and Depression Maintaining a stable emotional state can be challenging, and for those who all-too-often feel unsettled, acupuncture can help balance and regulate emotions. It stimulates the part of your nervous system that promotes a calm state of being. It can help you feel settled, grounded, and positive. It also relaxes the brain and muscles, which reduces stress throughout the body as a whole.

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