Acupuncture for Anxiety: The Science and My Experience

It’s no secret that I’ve always had an undercurrent of anxiety throughout my life. Actually, there’s almost nothing I don’t worry about. So when I started reading about the benefits of acupuncture for the treatment anxiety, I thought I’d give it a shot, so to speak. I’d never done acupuncture before, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. Well, except for the needles. I did have anxiety about those.

Acupuncture is a therapy that originated in China over 2,500 years ago. It involves inserting fine needles into specific points on the body, known as acupoints. These acupoints are interconnected by energy pathways called meridians, which regulate the flow of “Qi” (pronounced “chee”), or life force. As the theory goes, mental, physical or emotional disorders originate from a disruption in the flow of Qi, and acupuncture can help restore its proper flow and therefore health.

Before I get selfish and go into the benefits of acupuncture for anxiety, let me mention some other benefits as well. Depending on which points are stimulated, acupuncture can be useful for pain management, such as for migraines, lower back pain, and fibromyalgia. It stimulates the release of endorphins, which are our body’s natural painkillers, and can reduce inflammation. It can also boost the immune system, increasing your body’s production of white blood cells (which fight infection), and it can help with digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux and bloating by regulating gastrointestinal motility.

But what I wanted to know most was this: would acupuncture help me manage my anxiety? And if so, how?

Indeed, acupuncture has been shown to help with stress reduction, anxiety, and sleep. It can help calm the nervous system by reducing the production of the stress hormone cortisol, taking us out of a “fight or flight” state. Stimulating certain acupuncture points has also been shown to increase the neurotransmitters serotonin, which promotes feelings of wellbeing, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps with relaxation. These responses appear to be triggered via the stimulation of the vagus nerve, which is a nerve that runs the length of the body and can help put our nervous system into a restful state.

There have been several studies that have found beneficial effects of acupuncture for anxiety. A 2021 meta-analysis (which was a study of 20 different trials) in the Annals of General Psychiatry (1) showed that acupuncture was more effective than the control (non-acupuncture) group for the treatment of anxiety, and that patients tolerated acupuncture well with a high degree of safety and a low complication rate.

So I decided I was game. I found an acupuncture clinic close to my house and scheduled an appointment. I saw a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine who did an assessment by taking my pulse, looking at my tongue, and feeling my hands and the top of my head. He told me he had bad news for me: I was very weak, from a Chinese medicine perspective, and very old, which I really didn’t want to hear. But he thought he could help me get back into balance.

There was still the problem of those needles. They’re about the size of a hair in real life, and as much as I feared them, the actual experience was paradoxically calming. I laid face up (fully clothed, I might add) as the doctor put needles in my legs, arms, stomach, and head. And then he left me to marinate as a pincushion under two warming lamps for about 20 minutes. I didn’t fall asleep, but I did feel more relaxed. He gave me an herbal tea to make every night (which was absolutely disgusting) and told me to avoid cold foods: only eat foods at room temperature or above. I’m not going to pretend I’ve followed that advice, but I did start sleeping through the night.

Since then, I’ve gone to acupuncture a handful of times, and each time I’ve felt better and less anxious. It helped me break the cycle of anxiety and insomnia without addictive medications or sleeping pills. Will I continue going forever? Probably not. But for me, it’s been helpful. And I’m a lot less terrified of needles.

Have you had experience with acupuncture? I’d love to know what you think. As always, thank you for reading!

In good health,

Gina  

(1)   Yang et al. Effectiveness of acupuncture on anxiety disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Annals of General Psychiatry 20:9(2021)