Happy New Year! Want better health in 2013?

It is the beginning of a new year and, once again, a time to reflect on what changes we can make to improve our lives. If you want to improve your health this year, acupuncture can help you make the changes you need.

Here I will look at how acupuncture can help you with two common resolutions: losing weight and reducing stress

Resolution 1: Lose weight

Losing weight is the most common New Year’s Resolution. Although acupuncture cannot lose the weight for you, it is a powerful tool to support healthy weight loss by:

§         Promoting better digestion,

§         Improving metabolism,

§         Relieving emotional stress and helping address the emotional background to our overeating

§         Relieving pain to increase mobility and enable regular exercise

Acupuncture has been shown to have an effect on the function of the nervous system, endocrine system, digestive system, food cravings, and metabolism. All of which can help to energize the body, maximize the absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, suppress the appetite, and reduce anxiety.

Acupuncture is also a natural and effective means of controlling and eliminating pain. If you are immobile or find exercise difficult due to pain, acupuncture has no side effects and can be helpful for all types of pain, regardless of what is causing the pain or where the pain is located. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain before and after acupuncture treatment for pain shows dramatic decreases in activity in the pain centres of the brain of up to 70%.

Resolution 2: Eliminate Stress

Stress reduction is often high on people’s New Year’s resolutions and for a good reason. One in five Britons suffers from stress during the festive season, and the return to work in January provides little rest bite as we realise we have not recharged as well as we hoped.

Stress and anxiety are often the cause of illness and deterioration of health and pressures at this time of year can have a very real impact on our well-being. The most common symptoms of stress are:

§         Anger and frustration

§         Anxiety and panic attacks

§         Insomnia

§         Low immune system and repeated illnesses

§         Tiredness and fatigue

§         Neck and back pain, and headaches

§         Digestive problems

Acupuncture can calm you down and enable you to cope better with situations, reducing stress and anxiety and elevating your mood. It can help you get more, better quality sleep and return good energy levels to your body, boosting your immune system.

The calming nature of acupuncture also helps decrease heart rate, lower blood pressure and improve the circulation of blood throughout the body. This all helps relax muscles, reducing tension and headaches, and improving your digestion

If you would like to feel calmer and healthier this year, contact me to find out more

 

Eleanor Breen Acupuncture, Bristol