Why add acupuncture to your self-care?
What do you do regularly for self-care? Does it protect your body from the damaging effects of stress?
At a basic level, self-care should include a healthy diet, regular exercise, and quality sleep. Maybe at the next level, you would think of visiting spas, getting pedicures or taking a vacation. At a deeper level, I think it should include activities that in some way feed your soul and add joy to your life. Some may find this in creating art, expressing themselves through writing, making music or spending time in nature.
While those ideas are important elements of self-care, I think that true self-care needs to include routines that regulate the nervous system and release stress from the body.
In western culture our pace of life is hectic and most of us deal with some stress on a regular basis. Whether it be work or family related, or from fighting crazy traffic in congested cities, chronic stress keeps our nervous system in over-drive, and we end up spending a lot of time in “fight or flight mode” (sympathetic dominance). This means that your body’s energies are directed to dealing with critical situations and depending on how often you are faced with stressful situations, eventually it becomes difficult to reset from this sympathetic dominance into “rest and digest mode” (parasympathetic dominance).
In recent years, studies have established a link between chronic stress and many of our modern health epidemics, including heart disease, diabetes and obesity. We know that chronic stress impacts our sleep, the quality of our relationships and our ability to focus on our work. So, it is essential that we practice techniques that help release some of the stress in our lives and protect us from its damaging effects.
And that’s where acupuncture comes in:
Acupuncture stimulates the production of oxytocin, which is a signaling molecule for the parasympathetic nervous system, and therefore a direct way to help your body shift into “rest and digest”.
Ear acupuncture is a wonderful tool for activating the parasympathetic nervous system, because one of the important nerves that provide parasympathetic signals to our internal organs, has a tiny branch that runs into the ear. When we stimulate the ear with acupuncture, it’s like flipping a switch that puts us into “rest and digest”.
Acupuncture relaxes our nervous as well as our muscular system, easing the tension that is held in our tissues when we’re under chronic stress.
Acupuncture activates blood flow, which is the basis for healthy functioning of all tissues and organs. Healthy circulation supports the removal of toxins and maintains the health of tissues.
When you make acupuncture part of your self-care routine, you are not only protecting your body from some of the long-term damage of chronic stress but giving it a break from the mental strain and physical tension associated with it.
During stressful times, you might want that type of support on a weekly basis. When stress levels are at more moderate levels, then you might opt for monthly stress-reduction treatments. And when you come in for monthly stress-reduction treatments, it’s a way to address any little symptoms that have popped up in the past month before they turn into more chronic problems.
Other techniques that can help us shift into “rest and digest” mode are practices such as yoga, meditation, and Qi Gong. And I do think that the “feed your heart and soul” types of activities that I mentioned earlier, can have that effect on the nervous system, too. If it helps you feel calm and restored and supports the nervous system to be in parasympathetic dominance, then I think it’s good self-care.
