Acupuncture for Stress Relief

Stress is our body’s response to pressure, either physical or emotional, and is a normal part of everyday life. There are many different situations that can cause stress such as work deadlines, relationship troubles, financial worries or health concerns. We often feel stressed when we think a situation is out of our control. When we are stressed we might suffer from headaches, an upset stomach, a racing heart, or not being able to sleep.

Put a potato in hot water and it goes soft. Put an egg in hot water and it goes hard. Same situation, different reaction. How you react to a situation may be very different to the person next to you in the same situation. We all have a different threshold for the amount of pressure we can deal with. A little bit of pressure can be good in that it motivates us to achieve our goals. Too much pressure and everything comes tumbling down around us. We feel exhausted and lash out or withdraw. We can handle one minor event when it happens on its own but that same event can be the final straw at another time when lots of things are happening. It can feel like a waterfall raining down on us with no escape to the fresh air for a chance to breathe. 

In days of old, a stressful situation usually meant you were in danger or feeling threatened. Your body would prepare you to either fight or run away. The stressful situations we face today are often more emotional than physical but we still have this built-in fight or flight response that kicks in to try to keep us safe. Our heart rate goes up and digestion shuts down as there is a rush of energy to our arms and legs which mobilises us to fight the danger or run away. This burst of energy keeps us alert so that we can battle through whatever is causing us to feel stressed until we feel safe again. Once we feel safe we can start to relax and release the energy so our heart rate goes down, digestion resumes and breathing returns to normal. We need to be able to release this energy each time we feel stressed otherwise it becomes trapped and stored in our body which is when our mental health starts to be affected.

Acupuncture is a relaxing treatment that can help you deal with modern day stress. If you are struggling to cope with the pressures of life why not try acupuncture to help release the stress and heal any associated symptoms? Five Element Acupuncture brings the body, mind and spirit into balance to improve your health and wellbeing. Book a treatment with Kathy Hitchens at Balancing Acupuncture in Truro.