Acupuncture and Acupressure Points for Menopause
Menopause is fraught with all types of new symptoms you may never have experienced before in your life such as hot flashes, anxiety, worry, lack of sleep, insomnia, and extreme moodiness. Later on, as menopause comes on with time, the body's estrogen levels drop so low that the symptoms may worsen. If you're suffering from symptoms now, know that there are things you can do to alleviate them. Let's take a look at how acupressure for menopause helps.
Hot flashes are by far the worst menopause symptom, so let's deal with them first. You can take advantage of centuries worth of knowledge on the body from Chinese medical practitioners who are experts in acupuncture. You don't need to insert needles into your own body, but instead can find out what points on the body would have been used by the acupuncturist, and then press the point, holding it for one to five minutes.
When you hold a point, you're utilizing a method called acupressure. Massage therapists frequently use this method as a way to stimulate the appropriate points on the body to help their clients.
Here are three acupressure points for menopause below.
- Third Eye Point
The "third eye" is located right in the middle of your eyebrows, above your nose. Pressing this point is good for balancing the endocrine system and the pituitary gland. It's a good point to relieve hot flashes as well as headaches.
- Sea of Tranquility Point
This acupressure point for menopause is located right in the middle of the breastbone. Chinese acupuncturists have used this point for hundreds of years to eliminate hot flashes and, at the same time, relieve some of the mental symptoms that occur during menopause such as nervousness, insomnia, and anxiety. Stimulate the Sea of Tranquility point by holding it for one to five minutes.
- Bubbling Springs Point
Who would ever have imagined that in between the two pads underneath the toes, there would be an acupuncture/acupressure point for hot flashes? Yes, it's there and is called the Bubbling Springs Point.
- Elegant Mansion Point
Underneath the collarbone (clavicle) and next to the breastbone you will find an indentation that is used for hot flashes. Press and hold this point for one to five minutes.
You can stimulate these points several times throughout the day. If you're having a dozen or more hot flashes per day, don't expect that stimulating these points once is going to be enough.
Acupuncture and acupressure are based on the idea that the body is composed of energy circuits. These circuits feed 'chi' or energy to each of the organs and tissues that surround it. When an individual circuit or meridian is flowing properly, there is health. However, if there is a blockage anywhere along the meridian, there will be dis-ease and distress because the organs and tissues are not receiving what they need. The same thing is true with overactivity within the meridian.