Acupuncture Boosts Fertility
Acupuncture has been studied in greatest depth when it comes to complementary therapies for infertility. One randomized controlled trial included women who were having trouble becoming pregnant who were assigned to receive a lifestyle intervention with or without acupuncture for three months. In addition to the acupuncture therapy, the lifestyle intervention included dietary counseling and other education. After the three-month intervention, the women who had had acupuncture therapy in addition to the lifestyle intervention conceived within 5.5 weeks, on average. Alternatively, the women who did not receive acupuncture conceived within 10.7 weeks, on average. While the exact physiological mechanisms of acupuncture for improving fertility are not known, the women who got the acupuncture therapy reported increased awareness of their fertility, menstrual cycles, and general wellbeing, compared to those who did not receive acupuncture. This result suggests that there is a significant intersection of physiological and psychological health when it comes to fertility.
Digestion is a complex task performed by the body. It begins in the mouth and finishes when the ingested food leaves the body through the rectum. For all we have learned over the years regarding digestion, there is still so much more we don’t know or are still learning. For example, it wasn’t until recently, the last 10 years or so, that modern medicine confirmed our gastrointestinal tract is our second brain. This discovery is drastically changing the way the body and its many functions are viewed, because everything we put in our mouths can potentially have life-altering effects on the mind, as well as the body.
