Is Acupuncture Good for the Brain?
Today, people from all walks of life have started to go back to the basics. Be it in their practices or lifestyle. They acquire everything in their surroundings as nature provides the abundance of life. What is still significant is the belief of man in the use of natural methods of therapy, without the application or influence of chemicals in the body. After all, adverse effects have damaged the body rather than cure it with the use of synthetic medicines.
Acupuncture is one method of alternative medicine known today as the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Believed to have originated from China, its use was traced back about 5,000 years ago.
Cause of Illness
Energy has always affected the nature of life. It becomes a usual source of power, strength, and balance. Every matter is supposed to be attracted by the opposite energies and repelled by the similarities. This is manifested in people and in nature. A vital energy, which is called the Qi, circulates in the body along the pathways, which are called meridians; this energy has been responsible for the body’s equilibrium against external forces within the body.
The early proponents of this practice believed that good health depends on the correct flow of Qi. If external forces disrupted or disturbed the continuity of this vital energy, this will agitate the normal pathway, making the body experience stress and consequently no Qi; thus resulting to illness with the body’s physiology affected.
Use of acupuncture
Acupuncture is a procedure that uses the technique of inserting the sterilized needle superficially through the skin where acu-points are located and palpated. There are many acupuncture points along the body’s energy-carrying channels. However, after the stimulation of these points, it is believed that the blocked or disrupted meridians restore the proper flow of energy and result to the stability and balance of external and internal forces of the body.
Some experts say that acupuncture is useful in prompting the body to release the natural painkiller known as endorphins, which is responsible in decreasing or alleviating pain such as migraine, menstrual cramps, headache, and toothache, among others. It has also served as a natural painkiller prior to surgical operations and was confirmed to have a positive effect when combined with a local anesthesia.
Action in the Brain
Acupuncture has long been used to ease chronic pain where it allows the flow of energy to the pain response system of the brain known as the opioid, releasing promptly the natural painkiller. It can change the brain’s long-term ability to manage pain.
The benefit of this technique is indeed good for brain activity. There are Qi in the vital points of the body that give warmth and which initiate homeostasis. Brain is proliferated by numerous neurons and ganglia, each function well when acupoints are triggered and the signal of information is optimized. As we grow, our brain cells also mature, sometimes degeneration happens due to external forces like stress, pollutions, pathogens, and chemicals that advance and accelerate this process. With this acupuncture technique, it has effectively prevented such occurrence.
Conclusion
Though many say that acupuncture technique does not have any healing effect and is not widely accepted in the Western medicine, still, there are many researches proving its benefit in the brain activity, like the increase flow of blood in the diencephalon part of the brain when the acu-point is activated by the insertion of the needle. This revealed that there is a prompt flow of pain signal to the brain stimulating the release of endorphins.
The treatment is very safe and uses needles that are disposable or sterilized. There are no side effects as in the case of antibiotics or oral medication. Only some marks or bruises at the spot where the needles are inserted become evident after the procedure. Most of the time, patients do not feel anything at all, as the needles are inserted or removed. However, very few might experience some discomfort, but it does not exceed the threshold of pain.
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