Increase Your Immunity
Acupuncture can improve immune system. Acupuncture increases the amount of your body’s immune cells, such as the red blood cells, white blood cells, and T-cells. It can also enhance the immunity of those with immune related illnesses by encouraging these cells to reproduce and boost the body’s defenses. Many researches have revealed that acupuncture can regulate immunity by enhancing anticancer and anti-stress immune functions and enhance anti-inflammation effects. During the pandemic, we have seen that immune compromised people get severely ill from the virus and suffer from it. Poor nutrition, stress, and exposure to disease causing factors can have you exposed to risk of getting sick and prone to get virus or bacteria easily. You can improve your immune system through quality sleep, good diet and stress management. Developing a strong immune system while you are healthy can defeat any diseases caused by viruses and bacteria.
The number one reason why the acupuncture treatment is good is that it can reduce stress. By reducing stress in your body, your immune system is able to fight off infection in your body and increasing your body’s defense mechanism.
Covid-19 has become the greatest worldwide public health problem. Vaccines for Covid-19 are available, but boosting your immunity has been more important. Having a good immune system is important to have a healthy life. Immunity is the ability of the body to defend itself from foreign bodies. The good immune system attacks infections, germs, and viruses and keep us healthy. That is the reason why immunocompromised people are likely to get severely ill from Covid-19 compared to the healthy people.
Modern researches demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the immune systems. Acupuncture can increase the amount of your body’s immune cells. T-cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system. Acupuncture can proliferate T-cells, enhance CD 4+T cells/CD 8+ T cells ratio, adjust and produce cytokines that are crucial in controlling the growth and activity of other immune system cells. (Nurwati et al., 2021) Also, activity of the natural killer (NK) cells can be stimulated by acupuncture and NK cell’s increased activity can enhance immune system. NK cells can kill tumor cells and help tackle viral infections by releasing cytotoxic granules that can kill infected cells, which can help to control Viruses like Covid-19 as well. Acupuncture produces significant increase of Beta-Endorphin and Encephalin, body’s natural pain killing chemicals, which can enhance NK cell’s activity and cytotoxic T-cells.
Also, according to modern scientific researchers, the body’s inherent regulatory system to maintain the body’s homeostasis as the biological basis is neuro-endocrine-immune (NEI). Some researches show acupuncture has a certain modulatory effect on NEI network. (Ding, et al., 2013) When a needle is inserted in an acupoint, it can cause traumatic helps our immune system by having immunmodulatory effects throughhe release of these neuropeptides and neurotransmitters.
Increase Your Energy
Acupuncture can give you more energy. Acupuncture stimulates the release of endorphins which the body’s natural pain-relieving neurohormones. By inserting needles into specific acupuncture points in your body, it can encourage natural healing. Acupuncture’s therapeutic effects include increased energy and pain relief. Some studies showed that acupuncture could reduce fatigue both mentally and physically and improve depression and low energy. People who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can have a great deal of help through acupuncture treatments.
Increase Your Mood
A few decades ago, if someone went to a mental hospital, someone was treated like a complete psychopath, so no one could freely talk about mental illness. Now, compared to the old days, people’s standards are high, and we know a lot about how important our mental health is. Our body is governed by the mind more than the mind is governed by body. These days many people suffer from mental problems. I think that the world has become much more convenient than in the past, but the human mind feels more exhausted than in the past.
According to National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mental illnesses are very common in the United States and nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (52.9 million in 2020). More than 50 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime. In addition, one in every 25 Americans go through a serious mental illness. Three most common mental health disorders in America are anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder. Mental health was a serious issue in the United States even before the outbreak of Covid-19. It can be seen that it has gotten worse after the outbreak of the Covid-19. Covid-19 pandemic has become the greatest worldwide public health problem and exposed a growing mental health crisis. With this, mental health has never been more important than ever. Post-coronavirus non-face-to face culture has left many youth and the elderly isolated and untreated in depression symptoms, anxiety, and other mental health issues. As if to show the current situation, a new word ‘corona blue’ was created. Many people have anxiety about infection, economic damage, and negative information from TV and newspaper all the time. It is really hard to have a positive mind and have good mental health under the circumstance. Various age groups were affected not only physically but also emotionally. It seems like that most people depend on medication as their treatment method. However, most of antidepressant medications are known for their side effects such as weight gain, sleep disturbance, muscle aches, daytime sleepiness, and the risk of suicidal thinking.
Many people suffer from mental illness and feel very down. Covid-19 pandemic has made the situation worse. Anxiety or depression is no longer an illness to hide and show them that there is another treatment modality for mental illness. The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is on the rise, especially among mental illness patients.
Acupuncture can be a safe and effective treatment modality with fewer side effects for mental disorders.Acupuncture can change mood by helping people relax and shift into their parasympatheticnervous system.This process increases hormones such as oxytocin or endorphins, associated with a positive mood. Acupuncture can benefit individuals living with high levels of stress and anxiety disorders. The stress-relieving elements of acupuncture help to also improve emotional regulation, overall mood, and boost overall feelings of wellbeing. Recent medical researchers have found out that a higher amount of endorphins (the body’s natural morphine in the brain) is secreted after the acupuncture treatment. By easing stress by releasing endorphins, it can alleviate stress and anxiety altogether. You feel that way because acupuncture calms your nervous system. Acupuncture can enhance the body’s natural feel-good hormones and get rid of stress hormones like cortisol. Much scientific research has found that acupuncture increases central nervous system hormones such as ACTH, beta-endorphins, serotonin, and noradrenaline. Acupuncture treatments can affect mental health through nervous system pathways. In addition to acupuncture, there are many other benefits that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can provide, such as herbal medicine, massage, or TaiChiin order to help people with mental illnesses. Many TCM based therapies have provided relief for patients who suffer from mental disorders. The mind, body and spirit are inextricably linked and there are many advantages to viewing psychiatric or emotional disorders through this lens of holism rather than using a more-reductionist approach. (Aung& Hobbs, 2013)
Increase Your Beauty
The cosmetic treatment is an extension of traditional acupuncture. It’s said to naturally help make the skin look younger, smoother, and all-around healthier. And unlike injection procedures, facial acupuncture addresses not only signs of aging, but also the skin’s overall health by decreasing the appearance of lines,wrinkles, and other signs of aging.
Cosmetic acupuncture works by triggering your body’s natural tissue repair system, prompting it to increase the production of substances such as collagen to maintain your skin’s health, improve elasticity, and minimize fine lines and wrinkles. Acupuncture also stimulates your lymphatic and circulatory systems, which deliver nutrients and oxygen that nourish your skin from the inside out. This helps even out your complexion and restores a youthful glow.
Lower Your Pain
Acupuncture is known to help all ages with different chronic and acute pain conditions. Acupuncture has been used to reduce the discomfort and pain related to many diseases and conditions including dental pain, headaches (especially migraines), low back pain, menstrual cramps, labor pain, and chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), a number of studies well demonstrated that acupuncture is effective on chronic pain such as back pain, neck pain, headache, and knee pain. Also, acupuncture treatment also can treat peripheral and neuropathy with lesser side effects than medications. Also, in a safe and non-surgical treatment, it can enhance sciatica pain.
When the body is stressed and allowed to have poor skeletal position with repetition, we can have chronic pain and this poor posture addresses inflexible muscles which decrease range of motion. Recently, with the increase in smartphone use, many people complain of text neck. Text neck is the new term that describes the neck pain caused by damage sustained from looking down a mobile devise for a long time. Good posture is very crucial for balancing and good health to prevent any chronic pain.