What do we actually mean when we say Acupuncture “balances hormones”

When we talk about acupuncture “balancing hormones,” we don't necessarily mean that acupuncture increases estrogen or brings reproductive hormones back to a particular level.

During perimenopause, fluctuations and declines in hormones can influence the brain and nervous system, including neurotransmitter systems involved in mood, anxiety, sleep, temperature regulation, and stress.

Acupuncture helps regulate some of these interacting neurotransmitters responses to hormonal change, which may explain why someone can experience improvements in symptoms without seeing a measurable increase in a particular hormone.

“I Don’t Feel Like Myself Anymore” Acupuncture for Mood Swings:

Research suggests that Acupuncture may help reduce some of the mood changes that can happen for people during hormonal shifts such as Perimenopause, including with symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, and depressive symptoms.

Mental Health and Hormones

Mental health is psychosocial, neurological, hormonal, and bodily. It's shaped by many different things happening at once: our relationships, environment, stress levels, sleep, hormones, nervous system, physical health, and the experience carry in our bodies.

That's part of why mental health symptoms can feel so physical.

Tired muscles and sluggish digestion can make you feel mentally low.  It’s very common to experience fluctuations in mental health because of things happening around us that then affect our bodies and minds.

Hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone work in their own ecosystems as well- interacting with neurotransmitters in the brain that affect mood and stress. Estrogen, for example, interacts with serotonin, dopamine, and GABA.  So when hormones fluctuate rapidly—particularly during periods like perimenopause—the brain can fluctuate as well.  Hello, Mood Swings.

How Does Acupuncture Help with That?

Studies show Acupuncture does a great job at increasing  the neurotransmitters affected by the hormonal fluctuations.  Also there is evidence that Acupuncture helps reduce cortisol levels.   In combination these things will help the body feel more relaxed, and for the brain to feel more calm.

In other words, Acupuncture “balances your homones” in the sense that it supports the body systems that communicate with and respond to those hormones, including the nervous system and brain.