Skip to main content

Acupuncture and Longevity

As an acupuncture physician, I am keen to share emerging research that highlights the profound influence of mental health on longevity. Growing evidence suggests that psychological well-being not only shapes the risk of chronic disease and cognitive decline but also plays a pivotal role in the ageing process.

A study in BMJ Mental Health underscores how stress, anxiety, and depression accelerate harmful biological mechanisms, whereas psychological resilience acts as a safeguard against premature ageing. Acupuncture is increasingly recognised as an effective approach to strengthening mental resilience and preserving cognitive function, offering a holistic means of fostering long-term well-being.

Research indicates that acupuncture modulates key neural networks involved in emotional processing, mitigates neuroinflammation, and enhances neuroplasticity. A study in Nature Communications found that electroacupuncture prevents astrocytic atrophy in the prefrontal cortex, thereby alleviating depressive symptoms.

Similarly, research published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that acupuncture reduces inflammation in the hippocampus — a region essential for memory and emotional regulation — thereby enhancing stress resilience.

Further insights reveal acupuncture’s influence on the cortico-striatal circuit, a critical pathway in mood regulation. Studies indicate that patients with depression who undergo acupuncture treatment exhibit improved neural activity in this region, contributing to emotional stability and psychological equilibrium.

Additionally, acupuncture stimulates the release of serotonin and dopamine — neurotransmitters associated with well-being — while simultaneously lowering cortisol levels, a hormone closely linked to stress and the ageing process.

These findings reinforce acupuncture as a powerful tool for promoting mental resilience and cognitive longevity. By modulating neurobiological mechanisms, this time-honoured practice offers a valuable means of supporting healthy ageing and emotional well-being.

References

Steptoe, A. (2024). Mental health as the main determinant of longevity: A review of the literature. BMJ Mental Health, 27(1), e301064.

Liu, C. H., et al. (2023). Electroacupuncture prevents astrocyte atrophy in the prefrontal cortex, alleviating depressive behaviours. Nature Communications, 14, 3452.

Zhang, Y., et al. (2019). Electroacupuncture alleviates anxiety- and depression-like behaviours induced by chronic stress through reducing neuroinflammation in the hippocampus. Translational Psychiatry, 9(1), 271.

Yang, W., et al. (2024). Acupuncture modulates cortico-striatal connectivity in major depressive disorder. Translational Psychiatry, 14(1), 84.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Fallacy of Self‑Sufficiency

Some people will tell you — quite loudly, usually — that they are enough. They need no one, thank you very much. Entirely self‑made. A closed circuit. I, too, fancied myself an island at one time. A small, sturdy principality of one. I paid my own bills. Made my own tea. I even spoke aloud to myself in the supermarket queue, which was meant to prove something. But late at night, when all the heroic independence had been done for the day, there it was — a sort of homesickness without a forwarding address. You know the feeling. You’re supposedly sovereign, but you still wish someone would knock. Self‑sufficiency is a word that weighs a bit too much. It sounds like an insurance policy or a piece of camping equipment. It promises freedom, but only the kind you can fit in a box. Like eating an entire birthday cake alone — which, I confess, I’ve done. Because the truth (and it arrives, as truths tend to, when you’ve just burned your toast) is that we are made of others. We are es...

The Progressive Misreading of Silence

At 5, I entered rooms like a murmur. I was already listening for something behind the noise — something older than voices, softer than footsteps. “He’s such a well-behaved boy,” they said, smiling with relief. But what they mistook for virtue was only quiet intuition. I was not good. I was attuned. At 11, I had mastered the art of presence without weight. I could sit by the window for hours, watching the wind pass through the trees like thought through the body. “He’s quiet,” they would say — gently, but with a trace of discomfort. They couldn’t name the feeling of someone watching without need. At 17, I was called “mature.” But maturity is not a virtue — it is a scar. I had already seen the shape of endings before others saw beginnings. Friends came to me like tide to stone, hoping to be held. I held them, yes — but not always with words. Sometimes silence is the only honest offering. At 24, my stillness no longer charmed. The world asked for brightness, momentum, performa...

Research shows that parental warmth shapes our worldview — how might acupuncture offer a reparative experience in adulthood?

  It is becoming increasingly clear that our worldview — whether we perceive life as welcoming or hostile — is shaped far more by the emotional bonds of early childhood than by material hardship or environmental risk. A recent study, published in Child Development , revealed that an adult’s sense of safety, beauty, and benevolence in the world is deeply rooted in the warmth received from parental figures — more so than in their exposure to poverty or danger. This finding resonated with me on a personal level. Time and again, I encounter patients in clinical practice who, despite being outwardly successful and high-functioning, carry an abiding sense that the world is cold, fragmented, even threatening. In acupuncture sessions, it is not uncommon to witness how such emotional imprints — stored not only in the mind, but also in the body — manifest as chronic anxiety, diffuse pain, insomnia, or emotional detachment. Through the lens of Chinese medicine, these states reflect imbalances...