When a person’s body is working properly, all functions are in balance.

For example, think about the constant changes you body undergoes without your conscious effort.

If you get too hot, your nervous system recognizes this and initiates responses that begin to cool you off quickly.

If you get too cold, your blood flow changes in a thousand miniscule adjustments to direct warming blood flow to the appropriate parts.

If you suddenly find yourself in a desperate situation, your sympathetic nervous system immediately alters the responses of hundreds of thousands of components to be ready for fight or flight.

Whether you are a man or woman, your body undergoes normal rhythmic patterns of hormonal alterations in order to accomplish reproductive and sexual functions.

When you eat food your body initiates a cascade of actions that ensure proper digestion and utilization of the nutrients as well as elimination of the waste.

There are a million ways that your body works to stay in balance each day.

However, there are times when this balance is disturbed.

Whenever you are injured, or are affected by extremes of weather or other external factors, your body’s balance can be disturbed.

Although the body has self-righting mechanisms to return to normal balance of function, this is not always a completely successful process.

I haven’t yet mentioned the overwhelmingly most common and destructive reason for a disturbance of balance.

That is stress.

Our lives are so affected by stress today that it is nearly impossible for us to enjoy the exceptional health that we should.

Stress can come in emotional or mental forms as well as physical.

Examples of emotional stress are that anxiety, hurt, or worry caused by relationships or personal failures. Everyone goes through emotional stress at times in their lives.

Mental stress would include job pressures, difficulty making decisions, school demands and other types of mental conflicts. Most people encounter some degree of mental stress, although some people are affected more than others.

Physical stress occurs when we are exposed to physical excesses such as working in an environment that is too hot or cold, having a job that requires sitting all day, eye strain from computer use, or other extremes.

Sleep disturbance is an especially dangerous form of physical stress. Sleep problems will lead to illness or accidental injury.

Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years to help the body adjust to the demands that can throw us off balance.

For example, one of the most frequent comments patients make to me following their first acupuncture treatment is how well they slept for several nights afterwards.

Other people notice that their level of anxiety is reduced dramatically after only a few treatments, often after their first treatment.

It is common for women and men with hormonal imbalances to respond very favorably, often beginning with their first treatment.

Patients may also report significant improvement in their memory and concentration when they receive acupuncture.

Acupuncture stimulates nerves that have a direct effect on the limbic system of the brain.

This is the areas that interprets painful stimuli as well as helps regulate normal body systems that maintain balance as well as affecting memory.

Although MRI imaging has confirmed that acupuncture has direct effects on various aspects of the central nervous system, exactly how it affects regulatory systems is still being researched.

It is widely known that acupuncture can have dramatic effects on how well the body heals and accomplishes regulatory balance.

For many, acupuncture has brought health restoration when nothing else has helped.