Reducing Anxiety with Acupuncture Therapy

Do you feel constantly on edge, overwhelmed or unable to properly relax?
Do you struggle with racing thoughts, poor sleep, a tight chest or a nervous feeling that doesn’t seem to switch off?

Anxiety can affect both mental and physical health, impacting sleep, digestion, energy levels and emotional wellbeing. Conventional treatments for anxiety often focus on managing symptoms, but they don’t always address why the body remains stuck in a state of stress.

Chinese medicine takes a holistic approach to anxiety. Rather than treating anxiety as purely a mental health condition, it understands anxiety as a sign that the nervous system and internal balance of the body are under strain. By addressing these underlying imbalances, acupuncture aims to reduce anxiety symptoms and support longer-term regulation.

How acupuncture helps reduce anxiety?

Anxiety are among the most common mental health conditions in the UK. Increasingly, people are turning to acupuncture for anxiety disorder as a natural and supportive approach alongside, or sometimes instead of, conventional treatments.

Research shows that acupuncture helps calm the body’s stress response and support the nervous system. The body has an automatic system that controls how we respond to stress and relaxation. When this system is overstimulated, the body remains in a constant “fight or flight” state, which is strongly linked to anxiety. Acupuncture has been shown to help rebalance this system, encouraging the body to shift out of stress mode and into a calmer, more regulated state.

Studies also show that acupuncture can improve the body’s ability to cope with stress by supporting healthy heart rate patterns - a sign that the nervous system is responding more flexibly rather than remaining stuck in tension. In addition, acupuncture has been found to calm stress-related activity in the brain and increase the release of the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals, such as endorphins, which help regulate mood, sleep and emotional resilience.

A study of 400 patients found that acupuncture produced significantly better results in reducing anxiety when compared with conventional treatments alone. One of the largest studies within this review, involving 120 patients, showed that acupuncture led to more than twice the reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms compared with treatment using medication and psychotherapy.

Together, these effects help explain why acupuncture can be effective in reducing anxiety symptoms. For more information please click the link below.