First, what is daily anxiety? Many people do not realize what daily anxiety is because they are just used to how they “normally feel”.
Daily anxiety looks like:
100 things on your to do list
A busy mind that does not stop
Needing to multitask because you don’t feel you have enough time to get things done
Events that should be “FUN” just cause you more stress
Various events, tasks, and experiences can be triggers. When a trigger hits, your stress can spike and turn into anxiety. That feeling of anxiety is your “flight or fight” response. This response is a spike in adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are considered the main hormonal culprits for anxiety. Nearly every organ can release hormones or be affected by them because of stress.
Once your body starts to come down from the flight or fight phase, next is the resistance phase. This is when the body starts releasing cortisol, or the “stress hormone”, which is responsible for many of the damaging effects of stress.
Thyroid hormones are also released during the resistance phase. Thyroid hormones are used to boost your metabolism, breaking down fats and proteins and turning them into energy. Stress and anxiety are known to be responsible for weight gain, a decreased ability to burn fat, and increased food cravings.
The problem is that long term anxiety causes fat deposits to grow. This is because your body believes it has burned a bunch of calories to deal with your stress, even though in reality you haven’t.
If all of that doesn't sound lovely enough, stress also messes up our sleep! Our thyroid talks to our pituitary gland who is responsible for producing melatonin - our “fall asleep" hormone. The pituitary gland plays a crucial role in the regulation of sleep and the stress response, and its dysfunction leads to sleep-related disorders.
How can Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine help with anxiety, sleep, and improve your metabolism?
There are meridians that govern over the functions of these glands as well as acupuncture points that balance the yin and yang to promote healing. Acupuncture helps to route the yin and yang Qi back into balance within the meridian system to bring our body back to homeostasis.
Chinese herbs also play a very important key role in this balancing act as anxiety, stress, and depression happen daily, with new triggers often appearing at the most unexpected times. While you absolutely could come in for acupuncture every day to support your body, that often isn't exactly realistic for most of us! We use Chinese Herbal Medicine to support the body between acupuncture treatments and help maintain that balance of yin and yang.
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine is not the same for everyone. There is no one specific protocol to treat any condition or health issue. Your treatments and herbal formulas are customized to you and your specific needs. Not everyone with depression, anxiety, or stress is the same because triggers do not affect all of us in the same way.
The beautiful aspect of Chinese Medicine is that we can treat you as an individual person and support your specific needs.
Give us a call, or hop online to book with one of our providers and start your healing journey today!
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