Can Acupuncture Help With Your Anxiety?

In Chinese Medicine, emotions are seen as forms of energy, or qi, and each emotion is related to an organ system. Anger is related to the Liver or Wood element, fear is related to the Kidneys or the Water element, rumination and overthinking is related to the Spleen or Earth element, joy is related to the Heart or Fire element, and grief or sadness is related to the Lung or Metal element. Emotions that are out of balance (for example, if they are experienced too long or repressed) are seen in this perspective as a cause of disease. Thus an imbalance in an emotion can effect an organ system or an imbalance in an organ system can affect an emotion. For example, have you ever had chronic worry effect your digestion? Or have you felt tightness in your chest and shallow breathing after a loss. Acupuncture helps smooth the flow of qi and thus smooth emotions and bring them back into balance.

In Western terms, the placement of needles on different acupuncture points on the body has shown to have an effect on anxiety levels measured in a few different ways. Evidenced Based Acupuncture, a community run project that utilizes evidence-based tools to shows the current state of knowledge in acupuncture, has an excellent write up detailing a few different effects of acupuncture. Acupuncture has a modulating effect on the autonomic nervous system, which controls internal homeostasis, especially that pertaining to the “rest and digest” and “fight or flight” nervous system responses. In addition, acupuncture has an effect on heart rate variability (HRV), which is the amount of variation in rhythm the heart rate has in response to changes in the environment. Variability in rate is associated with better overall heath, which includes low levels of anxiety and improved mental health. A wide array of studies suggest that through affecting HRV, acupuncture can help the body cope with stress. In addition, as noted in this Harvard study, acupuncture has been shown to have a calming effect on the limbic area of the brain, especially the hypothalamus, a region in the brain that is the regulatory control center for hormonal activity. This area in the brain is also associated with increased activity under stress. Last, acupuncture releases endorphins, the body’s pain- and stress-relieving chemicals. All these effects on the body help alleviate the symptoms of anxiety such as heart palpitations, trouble sleeping, chronic rumination, etc. Acupuncture, compared the pharmacological interventions, is safe and cost effective. But always discuss your steps of treatment with your primary provider to make sure it is right for you.