Nervousness is a common symptom of anxiety. It often presents itself with physical symptoms of a rapid heart rate, fast, short breathing, sweating, and a feeling of exhaustion. Mentally, nervousness causes persistent and amplified worry about everyday situations.

It’s normal for all of us to feel nervous in certain instances, but continuous day-by-day nervousness usually corresponds to a more serious mental health problem. A report by DoSomething.org shared that an estimated 284 million people around the globe experienced an anxiety disorder in 2017 alone. At the time, it was most prevalent mental health disorder worldwide.

Chronic nervousness can rarely be treated on its own. Instead, doctors must look at the cause of the nervousness in order to create a personal treatment plan that works to eliminate the issue in the long run. Unfortunately, many medications that are offered for anxiety disorders come with a range of side effects, from dizziness and drowsiness, to speech problems and weight gain or loss.

Unsurprisingly, medication as a long-term treatment for nervousness isn’t a popular choice. Instead, more and more people are moving towards alternative therapies, like acupuncture, which offer next to no side effects and can be tailored to suit a patient’s exact health aspirations.

How Acupuncture for Nervousness Works

Acupuncture directly affects the nervous system, making it one of the best treatments for calming nerves. During an acupuncture session for nervousness, a therapist will insert needles at specific pressure points around the body, including the forehead in between the eyebrows, the connective tissues between the big toe and the second toe, and the middle of the upper back between the shoulder blades.

When needles are placed in these areas, they stimulate the nervous system to produce hormones that communicate with the part of the brain that controls emotions, including those associated with nervousness. Over multiple sessions, acupuncture can greatly reduce feelings of nervousness by switching off the brain’s receptors that produce these emotions.

Proven Benefits of Acupuncture for Nervousness

Multiple studies have looked into how acupuncture can treat anxiety, of which nervousness is a prevailing symptom.

One review of 12 controlled trials focused on acupuncture for anxiety and anxiety disorders, and found that despite a lack of firm evidence, all studies showed positive findings relating to acupuncture in the treatment of anxiety symptoms.

Another study looked at the potential for acupuncture to treat stress, which is often closely linked to nervousness. The study concluded that there was a “relative decrease” in the stress levels of participants who underwent acupuncture treatment twice weekly for 2 weeks, then weekly for 6 weeks, and then monthly.

The Future of Acupuncture for Nervousness

Nervousness can be incredibly debilitating, and, while it’s normal to feel nervous from time to time, it shouldn’t be a persistent sensation. Acupuncture shows real promise for targeting the cause of nervousness and providing a tailored treatment approach for reducing, and ultimately eliminating, amplified physical and emotional symptoms of the condition.