Holidays are coming... oh my!
I always encourage patients who may be prone to feeling a little down or find themselves frazzled during the holidays, to come in for a treatment prior to a stressful season. This helps to provide a sense of calm, and allows patients to re-energize so that they may be more prepared physically and mentally for all that the holidays may hold. Moderate exercise, a healthy diet, and relaxation techniques such as; deep breathing exercises or mediation, can also help to achieve a sense of balance during a busy holiday season. Below is a great article I found that may help explain it better!
Treating Holiday Stress and Depression with Acupuncture
By: Diane Joswick, L.Ac.
According to Oriental medicine, the cold months of winter are the perfect time to recharge your battery and generate vital energy, or Qi, in order to live, look, and feel your best.
The ancient Chinese believed that human beings should live in harmony with the natural cycles of their environment. The cold and darkness of winter urges us to slow down. This is the time of year to reflect on health, replenish energy and conserve strength.
Ruled by the water element, winter is associated with the kidneys, bladder and adrenal glands. The kidneys are considered the source of all energy or “Qi” within the body. They store all of the reserve Qi in the body so that it can be used in times of stress and change, or to heal, prevent illness and age gracefully.
Winter is the season where all living things slow down, conserve their energy and prepare for the outburst of new life and energy in the spring.
Eat warm hearty soups, whole grains, and roasted nuts to help warm the body’s core and to keep nourished. Sleep early, rest well, stay warm, and expend a minimum quantity of energy.
While optimal health and well-being in the winter season calls for rest, energy conservation and the revitalization of body and spirit, your holiday activities may have a different agenda.
The holidays can be filled with a dizzying array of demands, visitors, travel and frantic shopping trips. For many people, it is also a time filled with sadness, self-reflection, loneliness and anxiety. Compound the usual seasonal pressures with the constant barrage of bad economic news and you may find this to be one of the most emotionally trying times of the year.
Stress, anxiety and depression can cause a disruption in the flow of vital energy, or Qi, through the body. These energetic imbalances can throw off the immune system or cause symptoms of pain, sleep disturbances, abnormal digestion, headaches, and menstrual irregularities, and, over time, more serious illnesses can develop.
Acupuncture treatments can correct these imbalances and directly affect the way your body manages stress and your mental health.
Seasonal acupuncture treatments in winter serve to nurture and nourish kidney Qi which can greatly enhance the body's ability to thrive in times of stress, aid in healing, prevent illness and increase vitality.
