Introduction

Anxiety is one of the most “under diagnosed” mental health condition in our society. At least, more than half of the population with anxiety didn’t even know they are suffering from anxiety. And 50% of the people who knew they are suffering from anxiety often under estimated how much anxiety have affected their daily lives.

So, what is “anxiety” ? Anxiety can be referred to as a mental health condition with the following symptoms: restlessness, eg. the person can’t sit still and walks around the room, thinking excessively and can’t switch off at night, feeling of fear, constant thought of negative things, worrying something “bad” may happen, irritabilities, as well as possible feeling of depression.

Other non-emotional symptoms include: feeling hungry all the time or easily, blood sugar fluctuation, having a sweet tooth, food craving or thinking about food all the time, having a huge appetite.

The person may also suffer from insomnia, depression, fatigue/lack of energy.

Possible Causes

Anxiety is usually caused by high level of stress that has been poorly managed. Other factors can also include excessive use of caffeine, long working hours, trying to do too much and staying active than your body can afford.

Physiological Mechanisms

Anxiety is primarily caused by a severe imbalance in our body’s parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. In short, anxiety is caused by the body running on adrenaline ALL THE TIME as the result of excessive caffeine stimulation or a strong will driven personality.
When a person is under stress either physically or mentally, the body produced large amount of adrenaline, corticosteroids as well as other stress related hormones. As the result, this rapidly increase the blood sugar level, blood pressure and heart rate. This is known as the fight or flight responses. Consequently, the person becomes agitated, restless and hyperactive. This is also known as anxiety.
With time, as the blood sugar drops, it creates an urge for sugar or energy boost. Thus the person experiences hunger and craving for foods.
If the person is constantly under stress, these stress hormones stay in the body for a long time resulting in a vicious cycle of food craving and binging.
Furthermore, corticosteroids are natural hormones produced by the body to suppress the immune system to cope with stress. These hormones also cause the body to retain excessive fluid and result in rapid weight gain. This type of weight gain is known as fluid retention rather than typical weight gain.

Acupuncture & Chinese herbal medicine for anxiety

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine work for anxiety by involving the following mechanisms:

Re-balancing the body’s parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system
Reducing harmful hormones in the body such as cortisol and epinephrine
Correcting hormonal imbalances
Reducing physiological stress in the body
Reducing tension in the body
Promoting deep relaxation of the body
Calming the mind and body
Improving emotional wellbeing
Generating sense of happiness and harmony
Reducing fluid retention
Reducing food craving and binge eating desire