If you have a fighter in your corner, you’re going to want to know their record. So far, in battle against fearsome foes such as mental illness, allergies, back pain, infertility, headaches/migraines, weight loss and insomnia, acupuncture has emerged victorious. If you find yourself facing any of these, you may want to be aware of these ‘Ten Benefits of Acupuncture’.
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Effects of Acupuncture for Depression
In 2013, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine published a study comparing the effects of acupuncture with those of a drug called fluoxetine, better known as Prozac (See below). The purpose of the study was to treat depression in one group with electroacupuncture five times a week while treating another with fluoxetine once a day. The measure of improvement in both cases centers on the subject’s level of GDNF, a neuroprotective protein found in much lower amounts among those with depressive disorders. By running electric currents through their acupuncture needles, specialists from the first group were able to restore GDNF levels and reduce symptoms faster than those in the second group.
Read Acupuncture Gives Depression a Hug for more information on Acupuncture and Depression.
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Anxiety and Acupuncture
One thing left unsaid about depression that rings true in regards to anxiety and other mental illnesses is that those who suffer from such disorders are often reluctant to take medication, more so than with other ailments. Acupuncture easily comes out on top when used as an alternative to prescription drugs, in these cases. The same year as the fluoxetine/acupuncture study, two more sets of findings were published, specifically focusing on the effects of acupuncture on anxiety. (See studies here Acupuncture blocks cold stress-induced increases in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in the rat., The Effect of Acupuncture on Working Memory and Anxiety) Not only was anxiety significantly reduced but memory was improved as well. Results like this, combined with the fact that distrust of psychiatry and therapists is still alive and well, can only work in favor of acupuncture’s popularity.
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Acupuncture for Allergy Sufferers
2013 was clearly a good year for studies proving the benefits of acupuncture (Acupuncture in Patients With Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: A Randomized Trial). This time, in Germany, researches assembled 422 people suffering from pollen allergies. Their ages were 16 to 45. Three groups were formed. The first was treated with acupuncture, plus antihistamines, as needed. Those in the second group underwent a bogus acupuncture procedure with the needles placed at random points, rather than the usual strategic points. The last group was only given antihistamines. Two months later initial results proved as promising as they appeared in the aforementioned studies. 71 percent of the first group reported improvement in allergy symptoms and used less antihistamine than anyone else in the study. Even though the positive results reported by the second group ended up being proof that a placebo effect existed, to a degree that did not change the fact that results against allergies were positive.
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Application of Acupuncture for Back Pain
Bemoaning back pain is practically a rite of passage. It will always be associated with getting older. That still doesn’t mean that it does not get in the way of daily life. Application of acupuncture to lower back pain is so common that as many as 22 studies at a time have been reviewed with the same results. Back pain is not just relieved by acupuncture. It is the number one reason that acupuncture is sought out in the first place.
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Tension Headaches & Acupuncture
When we feel tension? Tension is just another word for stress, is it not? Certainly, no one is expecting anyone to head out for acupuncture treatment every time a tension headache occurs. Those are most likely instances where no one minds a pill, a mild painkiller like Tylenol. If they persist, on the other hand, a visit to an acupuncturist should be in your future. After all, stress is the gateway to numerous other health problems such as heart disease and brain shrinkage. It all begins with stress increasing hormone secretion from the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal gland, otherwise known as the HPA axis. Acupuncture prevents the elevation of these hormones. A standard six sessions should do the trick.
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Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, A Treatment for Migraines
No one who has endured a migraine should need an explanation as to why we are addressing them separately from other headaches. This author once called for an ambulance from the bathroom floor at his old job, upon getting hit with his first migraine. It is no exaggeration to include migraines in the study of chronic pain and pain management. Claudia Witt is an MD from Berlin who has participated in numerous such studies. One in particular finally showed clearly that only the control group receiving traditional Chinese medicine showed improvement (Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis). The group that received the fake treatment did not show a response at all, as opposed to those who exhibited a placebo effect in other studies.
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Acupuncture for Weight Loss
If you have looked this far into the subject of acupuncture, you may at least be aware that its authentic practice always involves very specific placement of needles, throughout the body. That said, it is actually fascinating to learn about the acupuncturist’s approach to weight loss. It turns out that favorable results have stemmed from all needles being placed at various points in the ear. One point is linked to hunger, for instance. To take on obesity, up to five separate points in the ear have been found to be helpful.
Read Weight Loss & Acupuncture and find out how acupuncture can be used to help control weight.
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Acupuncture Treatment and Infertility
When it comes to infertility, it truly does not matter where you stand on acupuncture. Human life begins and ends. Considering the role fertility plays in one of those events, it goes without saying that beliefs regarding childbirth vary widely and greatly, from one culture to the next. Acupuncture and herbal medicine are very old, trusted allies in the scope of things. A mother receiving fertility treatments may be having issues with her thyroid functioning, something that acupuncture has been known to address. It does this by decreasing stress, increasing blood flow to the reproductive organs and balancing the endocrine system.
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Acupuncture and Your Immune System
While we are zoomed out to the bigger picture, why not mention how acupuncture affects the immune system as a whole? After all, effective acupuncture only strives to do the same work as the immune system, or at least to supplement or augment that work. The ultimate test to the power of acupuncture could only come from the greatest menace the immune system has ever faced: cancer. In cancer treatment, acupuncture joins the valiant all-star team of defenders that includes interferon, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For its part, acupuncture has been known to enhance platelet count and prevent the decrease of leukocytes.
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Acupuncture Can Help with Insomnia
Is the immune system the end of the line? If you are unable to sleep, it may just be. Everyone knows how important sleep is to the immune system. If insomnia prevents sleep, that makes it a formidable villain. Now think about how much the absence of back pain, allergies and migraines contributes to your ability to sleep. That alone should give you an idea of what acupuncture can do to insomnia, if it diminishes the effects of those culprits. As far back as 2004, experts discovered in studies that acupuncture treatment leads to increased melatonin production and total sleep time (Acupuncture increases nocturnal melatonin secretion and reduces insomnia and anxiety.)
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