STRESS & ANXIETY ACUPUNCTURE IN BONDI JUNCTION SYDNEY

Modern day life is great for triggering our stress response. Despite all of our modern luxuries, the pace of life continues to quicken and our attention is constantly dragged in multiple directions. It’s no wonder so many of us feel stressed, anxious or just plain burnt out.

 

Stress can affect us in so many ways, contributing to things like:

 

• Anxiety

• Insomnia

• Panic attacks

• Chronic fatigue

• Chronic pain

• Gut issues

• Irregular menstruation

• Mood swings

• Relationship issues

• Difficulty with weight

• Issues with blood pressure and cardiovascular health

 

Just to name a few.

 

Our bodies still respond to stress signals as if they were life and death situations. Your body will respond in a similar way to a looming deadline as our ancestors would to a predator in the distance. Your sympathetic nervous system will kick in and prepare you for fight or flight (or freeze you in place with extreme stress). This is a useful response for survival and even in modern life for periods where we need to get stuff done, but it is too easy for us to get trapped in a cycle of fight or flight. This means our body will spend less time in the opposite parasympathetic, or rest and digest, which is responsible for our processes of sleep, recovery, reproduction, digestion, social engagement, etc. 

 

Well meaning friends or even doctors may give the advice of “just don’t stress so much”. Which is possibly the most useless advice for someone stuck in a cycle of stress. Medication and therapy can be useful and important for some with anxiety or mental health concerns, but many will still feel stressed and look for more help.

 

How do we use acupuncture for stress and anxiety?

 

In Chinese medicine we have Yin Yang theory. We are meant to have phases of activity, expansion and engagement with the world, balanced by phases of stillness, quiet, retreat and rest. Stress is great at keeping us stuck in a state of activity, even when we’re trying to rest physically, our mind can still be racing at 100km per hour. Your acupuncturist’s job is to figure out how your mind-body is keeping you trapped in that loop, and help you break out of it, into a more balanced state of being.

 

At Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction Sydney, we use acupuncture for stress and anxiety tailored specifically to you. Typically if it’s going to be helpful for you, we will know very early on within the first 4-6 treatments (often earlier). That doesn’t mean that you will be totally relaxed and carefree within that time, but you should feel some early signs of improvement from the acupuncture if it’s going to help. Once we know how you’re responding to the acupuncture, we’ll then work out a treatment plan for you. The ultimate goal would be to get you to a place where you don’t need acupuncture anymore, or it’s just something you do for maintenance.

 

Chinese herbal medicine may also be a useful adjunct when working with stress or anxiety as it helps to keep the treatment going each day. It’s the same idea as acupuncture, we use it for a period to help address certain imbalances, but as you improve, we aim to get to a point where it’s no longer necessary. If it’s something that we feel will help you along, we’ll discuss it as part of the treatment plan. 

 

If you would like to try acupuncture for stress or anxiety with Acupuncture Grove in Sydney’s Bondi Junction, please book online here or contact us with any questions.