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What You Need to Know About Acupuncture for Weight Loss
Learn about how acupuncture and weight loss may be related and how it all works
Acupuncture for weight loss isn't just a fad. It's one of several forms of healing that goes back thousands of years to ancient Chinese medicine. Read on to learn all you need to know about acupuncture, how the treatment works and whether it can really help you lose weight.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
As one practitioner puts it, "Acupuncture brings the body back into balance so everything, including your metabolism, will function more optimally." In other words, acupuncture helps the body ease into its best shape. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), qi, the life energy, flows through the body in channels called meridians, like water moving in rivers. Similar to dams in a river, sometimes the flow is backed up, and that results in health problems like fatigue, pain and, yes, weight gain and difficulty losing excess pounds.
What Should You Expect With Acupuncture for Weight Loss?
Although needles are involved, they don't hurt nearly as much as shots pinch. Acupuncture needles are very fine, usually tenths of a millimeter. After insertion, people who try acupuncture often feel a tingling, heaviness or lightness in their bodies. Some practitioners will also attach electric nodes for different effects to the meridians.
Some practitioners also incorporate the use of ear seeds, cupping and other traditional medicines to unblock meridians. Ear seeds are squeezed along sensitive points in the ears to suppress the appetite and help people deal with overeating that stems from emotions like boredom or stress.
You shouldn't expect any miracles. Acupuncture for weight loss isn't magic. Instead, it can help you lose weight more easily and maintain that change after you make appropriate lifestyle modifications.
Where Do the Needles Go?
With acupuncture for weight loss, as in all types of the treatment, needles are inserted into certain areas that depend on your body type, the state of your metabolism and other factors that indicate to the practitioner what might be in disharmony. Common places for needles may be the ears, limbs and belly. Ear and body acupuncture have proved to be somewhat effective in weight loss, producing rates of as much as a 6 percent reduction in BMI (body mass index, the ratio of body weight to height).
Does Acupuncture Actually Work?
There is some research on acupuncture for weight loss, but as with all health treatments, your results may vary. Acupuncture alone will not cause an instant or dramatic weight loss, but it might be an alternative procedure to consider if you want an extra boost to your lifestyle changes. There are also some benefits to acupuncture that aren't directly related to weight. Some of them include stress and pain relief and help with mood disorders and a wide range of body imbalances. It is important to find an acupuncturist who is knowledgeable, certified and experienced in achieving results that work for you.
If you're considering acupuncture for weight loss, this is what you need to know
As one practitioner puts it, "Acupuncture brings the body back into balance so everything, including your metabolism, will function more optimally." In other words, acupuncture helps the body ease into its best shape. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), qi, the life energy, flows through the body in channels called meridians, like water moving in rivers. Similar to dams in a river, sometimes the flow is backed up, and that results in health problems like fatigue, pain and, yes, weight gain and difficulty losing excess pounds.
What Should You Expect With Acupuncture for Weight Loss?
Although needles are involved, they don't hurt nearly as much as shots pinch. Acupuncture needles are very fine, usually tenths of a millimeter. After insertion, people who try acupuncture often feel a tingling, heaviness or lightness in their bodies. Some practitioners will also attach electric nodes for different effects to the meridians.
Some practitioners also incorporate the use of ear seeds, cupping and other traditional medicines to unblock meridians. Ear seeds are squeezed along sensitive points in the ears to suppress the appetite and help people deal with overeating that stems from emotions like boredom or stress.
You shouldn't expect any miracles. Acupuncture for weight loss isn't magic. Instead, it can help you lose weight more easily and maintain that change after you make appropriate lifestyle modifications.
Acupuncture for weight loss requires targeting specific points of the body
With acupuncture for weight loss, as in all types of the treatment, needles are inserted into certain areas that depend on your body type, the state of your metabolism and other factors that indicate to the practitioner what might be in disharmony. Common places for needles may be the ears, limbs and belly. Ear and body acupuncture have proved to be somewhat effective in weight loss, producing rates of as much as a 6 percent reduction in BMI (body mass index, the ratio of body weight to height).
Does Acupuncture Actually Work?
There is some research on acupuncture for weight loss, but as with all health treatments, your results may vary. Acupuncture alone will not cause an instant or dramatic weight loss, but it might be an alternative procedure to consider if you want an extra boost to your lifestyle changes. There are also some benefits to acupuncture that aren't directly related to weight. Some of them include stress and pain relief and help with mood disorders and a wide range of body imbalances. It is important to find an acupuncturist who is knowledgeable, certified and experienced in achieving results that work for you.
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