The holiday season is upon us, and while everything may appear to be merry and bright filled with family traditions and warm laughter, many women suffer from stress and anxiety around this time.
Women take on many of the burdens of the holidays — from decorating the home and shopping for the entire family, to coordinating and catering to a house full of guests and cooking — no wonder it is such a stressful time.
Let Dr. Lee at Lee Acupuncture help you quell the anxieties of the holidays! Experience relaxing and stress-relieving acupuncture sessions and walk out with a nourishing tea that supports and elevates your mood! Follow along in today’s post as examine how acupuncture can address stress and anxiety that comes with the holidays.
Spread Good Cheer and Overcome Your Anxiety
If you are already beginning to feel overwhelmed by the looming holiday season, take preventative measures and enact self-care — be gentle on yourself.
How does acupuncture address stress and anxiety?
As we have covered before, acupuncture addresses symptoms — whether physical or emotional in nature — by clearing the congestion (blocked energy) in your body and working towards balance where everything can flow freely. For example, the emotional component of the liver is anger, so if you are extra moody and angry, you may have a liver stagnation. Once this is addressed in acupuncture through various meridians, the energy can be unblocked and you will likely notice a difference in your mood.
It has been clinically shown that acupuncture lowers blood-hormone levels created by the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, thus regulating and improving emotions, digestion, libido, and the immune system.
How many acupuncture treatments are required for anxiety-relief?
Acupuncture is very individualized so it will differ with each patient, but it is recommended at least one treatment per week for a month or two. If you know that your stress levels rise around the holidays, beginning treatments before the season can be very advantageous as well.
Are there other things that can help?
There are many options when it comes to dealing with elevated anxiety during the holidays, including:
- Chinese herbs – You can use these alone or with acupuncture. Chinese herbs are supportive and can help calm the nerves.
- Remove expectations – It is easy to get into the hustle and bustle of the holidays and want everything to be just perfect, but just realize that perfect is unrealistic and remove such high expectations.
- Ask for help – You cannot do it all yourself which is why the delegation of tasks is so critical around the holidays, so ask for help! If you have a household of guests, ask them to prepare one meal or ask your partner to help out by going holiday shopping with you.
- Say no – Set your boundaries by saying no — no to overscheduling or to every holiday party you are invited to. When you do things out of obligation it never feels good, so pick the parties and things that really you really enjoy.
If anxiety comes with the holiday season, know that you have many options to help you overcome it.