Acupuncture has been used for centuries for a number of health reasons, including weight loss. Alongside a fitness programme, acupuncture can have numerous benefits for your wellness and wellbeing, and is now an accepted holistic approach to many different ailments.
When combined with a diet and exercise, acupuncture has been proved to help improve the health of the digestive system. It can also help to relieve anxiety and stress, which often lead to comfort eating and associated weight gain.
Therefore, those who eat for emotional reasons find acupuncture to be particularly effective. The needle placement during an acupuncture treatment helps their body to release endorphins, and can also speed up their metabolism. This allows the dieter to feel less tired, anxious and stressed and to cope better with emotionally brought situations. This improvement in mental health can decrease the likelihood of overeating and reduce the chances of binge eating that so many emotionally stressed people succumb to.
Acupuncturists meet with their weight loss patients, and get an idea of their full health history. From this, and from a basic examination, acupuncturists can decide on the most appropriate approach to take with the treatment (in other words, where to place the needles). Once the needles are in place, some acupuncturists also take the treatment a step further and use electrical stimulation to help shock the body into producing more endorphins.
The number of treatments needed to help to achieve the best weight loss will depend almost entirely on the individual, their eating habits, their health history and a number of other factors. It is important to remember, however, that acupuncture on its own cannot help you to achieve weight loss. It must be combined with a change of lifestyle, such as an increase in physical activity and an improvement in the types of food that you consume.