How Acupuncture Can Help You RECOVER From a Cold or Flu
This post is part of my series for how to stay healthy during cold and flu season. Check out the others here:
How Acupuncture Can Help You PREVENT a Cold & the Flu
How Acupuncture Can Help you TREAT a Cold
Who likes to get sick? Um, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say NO ONE!
Getting sick with a cold or flu leaves you feeling exhausted and run down despite having to jump back into daily life once symptoms have improved.
You can read about how to prevent getting sick or even how to treat symptoms when you do get sick, but what many people overlook is how to adequately recover after being sick.
Acupuncture treatments can help you bounce back fully and quickly after an illness. Here’s how.
Acupuncture Builds Your Energy
Your body works hard to fight an illness so most of your energy when you’re sick is focused on that effort.
Once you are on an upswing and no longer symptomatic, your body is more often than not left depleted.
Trying to bounce back into the daily demands of life including work, caring for loved ones, cooking, cleaning, etc. can be very difficult when you have no energy reserves to draw on.
Sleep and eating clean, healthy food are both important to regaining your energy but what if you could give your body the necessary boost it needed while taking a nap?
That’s where acupuncture can help! One of the main functions of acupuncture is building and circulating energy in the body so that every cell, organ and muscle gets the fuel it needs to function.
Treating specific points on the body will enable your body to regain its energy faster so you’re up and at ‘em in no time.
And did I mention that you get to relax and take a nap during your treatment while the needles do their thing. Win-win!
Acupuncture Can Help You Recover Your Appetite
As I mentioned above, eating proper food is crucial to building energy and fueling your body to a full recovery after a cold, flu or illness. And yet, often times during an illness and shortly after, our appetites decline.
Acupuncture treatments can stimulate your appetite so you’re ready to return to your normal, healthy diet. Don’t worry though.
Acupuncture can’t overstimulate your appetite if you’re worried about overeating or weight gain.
It just brings your digestive system back into balance so it can function properly and stimulate your normal appetite for eating.
Acupuncture Strengthens Your Immune System
After you’ve been sick you’re ready to do anything to not get sick again!
Restoring your energy and strengthening your immune system after an illness is vital so that your body is not vulnerable to a relapse or secondary infection.
After you’ve finally recovered, you don’t want to turn around a week later and come down with yet another cold, cough or sinus infection.
Just as regular acupuncture treatments can strengthen your immune system to prevent a cold or the flu, they can also strengthen your immune system after an illness so that your body becomes strong enough to fight off whatever germ it may come in contact with next.
Specific acupuncture points work directly to build up your wei qi, or defensive energy, which if strong, can kick out pathogens before they have a chance to multiply and make us sick.
Acupressure to Recover From A Cold, Flu or Other Illness
Between acupuncture appointments, I recommend using acupressure at home to continue your recovery.
Acupressure is a non-insertion technique in which a finger or thumb applies pressure on an acupuncture point on the body, stimulating the healing properties of that point.
A common point used in acupuncture treatments to build energy and restore appetite is Spleen 6 (SP6).
This point increases energy, stimulates your digestive system, strengthens your stomach functioning and can also relieve diarrhea.
Spleen 6 is located on the inner aspect of the lower leg, about four finger widths above the top of ankle bone (medial malleolus) at the posterior border of the tibia bone. *This point is not to be used in pregnancy.
Once you locate the acupuncture point, simply apply pressure on that area with your finger or thumb for approximately 30 seconds.
Pressure should be firm but not painful. Repeat this process on the same point on the opposite side of the body for another 30 seconds.
Apply acupressure at least once a day or as many times as needed throughout the day to improve your energy and stamina.
Don’t just ignore your health once your cold and flu symptoms have disappeared.
Be sure that you help your body fully recover with acupuncture and acupressure to regain your energy and appetite and strengthen your immune system to prevent another illness!