Acupuncture and Hormone Balance Through all of the Life Cycles: Menstruation, Fertility, Menopause and Beyond.
Women today face many demands in their daily lives. Work, young children, aging parents, and financial pressures are just some of the factors causing ever increasing stress. As we know, stress can affect our hormonal balance and impact our overall health. Numerous studies have shown the benefit of acupuncture as a way of natural healing for a variety of women’s health conditions. Acupuncture helps direct our bodies to heal in the areas that most need it.
When talking about hormones and Chinese medicine, they tend to have one important thing in common: their emphasis on BALANCE. Hormones play a crucial role in all of our body’s functions including metabolism, sleep-wake cycles, stress and reproduction. Although most of the emphasis is put on reproductive hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone, thyroid and adrenal hormones are just as crucial to our health.
In fact, in our high paced, high stress culture, adrenal hormone imbalances are by far the most common, and when the adrenal hormone is too high or too low (which usually happens after it being too high for long enough), the other hormone imbalances usually follow in it’s wake.
These are some of the conditions we most frequently treat in our clinic:
When talking about hormones and Chinese medicine, they tend to have one important thing in common: their emphasis on BALANCE. Hormones play a crucial role in all of our body’s functions including metabolism, sleep-wake cycles, stress and reproduction. Although most of the emphasis is put on reproductive hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone, thyroid and adrenal hormones are just as crucial to our health.
In fact, in our high paced, high stress culture, adrenal hormone imbalances are by far the most common, and when the adrenal hormone is too high or too low (which usually happens after it being too high for long enough), the other hormone imbalances usually follow in it’s wake.
These are some of the conditions we most frequently treat in our clinic:
Irregular Menses: Life changes, emotional stressors, medications and hormones can all affect the length of a menstrual cycle, the amount of flow, missed cycles and unpleasant symptoms before or during the period. Acupuncture can help regulate the cycle to a healthy length by reducing the negative effects of stress on the body, normalizing hormones, and increasing blood flow to the reproductive organs.
Painful Periods – Many women who are menstruating experience mild to moderate cramping and pain during their periods, while some have debilitating pain. In our clinic, we often see changes in the severity of menstrual cramping within one to three months of regular acupuncture. A recent Australian study by the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland reported that the intensity and duration of period pain can be reduced by up to 50 percent with acupuncture.
PMS: Headaches, cramping, breast tenderness, bloating, moodiness, acne, insomnia, and changes in bowel movements are some of the PMS symptoms experienced by women in our clinic. With regular treatments, most women see an improvement in their PMS symptoms within one to three cycles. Although there are not a lot of studies regarding PMS and Acupuncture, The British Acupuncture Council sites a number of studies indicating that acupuncture may help reduce PMS in a number of ways. It can increase relaxation and reduce tension in the body, alter the brain’s mood chemistry to help negative emotions, stimulate nerves that release endorphins and change the processing of pain in the body, and reduce inflammation.
Acupuncture has a regulating effect on the body and can help promote more optimal functioning of many different hormonal imbalances in the body, from sleep, energy, mood and digestion. By looking at the different areas of the body and the symptoms they are presenting with, Chinese medicine can come up with the root cause of an imbalance and take natural steps to being to correct them. Over time, with acupuncture, herbs and self-care steps, equilibrium can be restored to the body and symptoms will slowly lessen while vitality and energy improve.
Hormone imbalances can be complex to treat and often lifestyle factors play an important role in successfully managing and resolving them. This includes managing stress levels, getting regular exercise, maintaining a regular sleep-wake schedule, staying hydrated, and a healthy diet. While these seem like common sense strategies, they are indeed pillars of good health and help us to maintain good health throughout the many changes we face in life.
