Proof That Electroacupuncture Can Be Used To Lower Stress

Acupuncture West Orange is one of the oldest forms of treatment in Chinese medicine involving the use of hair-thin needles stuck into important acupoints in the body to help treat a wide range of health problems. While the benefits of acupuncture have been well known since in China since ancient times, the West is only now starting to comprehend how and why the age-old method works.

The alleviation of stress is just one among the many benefits of acupuncture, but precisely how or why inserting needles into the skin attains this was earlier unknown. The Journal of Endocrinology published a new study observing the method by which acupuncture can help alleviate stress in mice.

Georgetown University Medical Center researchers discovered that electronic acupuncture can slow down the release of hormones related to stress in the body, shielding the body from the effects of stress.

Lowering stress in mice

According to Dr. Ladan Eshkevari, a Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies associate professor, “a lot of acupuncture practitioners have noted that acupuncture can lower stress in people, but a dearth of proof exists of why or how this occurs,” ” At the molecular level, we’re beginning to understand what is occurring that can help explain the benefit of acupuncture to health.”

Electroacupuncture or electronic acupuncture is an acupuncture technique that transmits tiny electric signals into the needles. This procedure is at times favored over traditional acupuncture because the needles don’t need to be placed as precisely, since the electrical signal tends to reach a larger part of the body.

Electroacupuncture has the same advantages as traditional acupuncture, but is known to be especially effective for the management of pain.

Eshkevari, who is also an acupuncturist and physiologist commented, “Electroacupuncture is my treatment of choice because it guarantees that each animal is getting the same dose of treatment”.

Eshkevari produced a number of studies on mice to evaluate the impact of electroacupuncture on the amount of hormones and proteins released into the bloodstream due to stress.

Monitoring stress hormones

Researchers used mice for the study because their reaction to stress is akin to that of humans; when they’re exposed to cold temperatures for one hour each day, they tend to become extremely stressed. For a total of two weeks, they studied the mice after dividing them into four groups.

The first group received no stress triggers or electroacupuncture and was used as a control; the second group received no electroacupuncture and was stressed for an hour each day; the third group received “sham” acupuncture (placebo acupuncture) and was stressed; the fourth group was administered acupuncture to the “Zusanli” acupoint on the leg and was stressed.

When needles are inserted into the “Zusanli” or St36 acupuncture point, it can lead to relief of stress. This point is located in the same spot for both humans and mice: just below the knee down the leg.

The researchers then measured chemicals related to stress in the mice.

Stress causes the body to release a number of hormones into the bloodstream. The hypothalamus, adrenal gland, and pituitary gland are the organs responsible for these hormones release. Together they make up the HPA (hypothalamus pituitary adrenal) axis. The researchers also monitored peptide activity associated with “fight or flight” responses known as neuropeptide.

Mounting Evidence

Based on this analysis, researchers discovered, that “electroacupuncture obstructs the stress-induced, chronic elevations of the sympathetic neuropeptide pathway and the HPA axis hormones.” The mice receiving “sham” electroacupuncture showed higher levels of hormones same as the mice that were highly stressed.

Eshkevari said, “The growing body of proof indicates the protective effect of acupuncture against the stress response.” He added that more studies are required to determine whether acupuncture could work in lowering hormone levels in mice after they are exposed to the stress of cold temperatures, and if a similar conclusion can be made in humans.

According to Eshkevari, this study complements her work earlier reported that focused on neuropeptides alone. Eshkevari and her associates discovered the reduction of neuropeptide or NPY levels in the experimental group which was almost the same as the control group, while the mice that were not treated with Zusanli acupuncture and stressed showed high levels of NPY.