The Hyggelig Journey

As a board certified acupuncture physician, I have observed the profound benefits of acupuncture for emotional clarity. This ancient practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine goes beyond treating physical conditions; it also promotes emotional and mental balance. Emotional clarity is the ability to identify, understand, and express emotions in a healthy way. Recent studies show that it can modulate the relationship between inflammation and depression. Individuals with low emotional clarity and high levels of inflammatory markers, such as interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, exhibit more severe symptoms of depression. This highlights the importance of emotional balance in the prevention and treatment of depression. Acupuncture acts on the nervous system, stimulating specific points to release neurotransmitters and hormones that promote well-being. These stimuli help reduce inflammation, regulate the immune system, and positively impact mental health. Additionally, acupunctur...

It is not quite true that there is a pill for everything. In the West, what we see most frequently are symptomatic treatments that provide temporary control. The idea of a pill that could solve everything at once and forever is not feasible — at least, not yet. Take, for example, mood and neurovegetative disorders. There is evidence that mood is influenced by several complex physiological axes, particularly the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the sympathetic-adrenal axis, and the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Any alteration in how these systems operate and communicate can impact mood. And, as they are evidently interconnected, the complexity is such that achieving complete pharmacological control remains highly unlikely. However, it is important to recognise that not all mental health issues require medication. There is a wide range of techniques and fields of study that can complement psychiatry, including psychology, physical education, neuroscience, and integrative med...

When you control what is possible and reasonable, you demonstrate discipline and determination. When you try to control the impossible and unlikely, you demonstrate desperation. Anxiety often stems from this very struggle—the urge to control what is beyond your reach. In itself, anxiety is an adaptive phenomenon, preparing you to navigate daily life. However, when you attempt to suppress it at all costs, you not only hinder your ability to adapt but also create another obstacle. Rather than seeking control over your anxiety, seek acceptance. This means allowing yourself to think and feel whatever arises, even when it is uncomfortable. When you try to suppress anxious thoughts, you create a problem greater than the thoughts themselves—leading to procrastination, fear, withdrawal, and despair. This, in turn, can give rise to pathological anxiety and coping mechanisms such as alcoholism or compulsive shopping. Recognising yourself as an anxious person is probably quite dif...

Comorbidity refers to the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient. Common comorbidities include diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, dementia, and cancer. These are often described as pre-existing clinical conditions that require extra caution when assessing a patient’s health trajectory. Reframing aligns with the concept of cognitive restructuring. It is a psychological technique that involves identifying and then changing the way situations, experiences, events, ideas, and emotions are perceived. However, caution is necessary here — without proper professional guidance, one may enter the realm of reality distortion. An unhealthy example of reframing is excessive mentalisation. Many people engage in this because they believe that fixating on the details of a particular issue — such as a deadline — makes them more productive, when in reality, they are avoiding their emotions. A more humorous example is reminiscent of old C...

The antidote to anxiety is action. When faced with uncertainty, the mind tends to spiral, analysing every possible outcome, yet struggling to commit to a decision. This constant back-and-forth is not just mentally exhausting — it is paralysing. Indecision keeps you rooted in place, amplifying doubts and feeding a growing sense of unease. Anxiety often arises not from the decisions themselves, but from the fear of making the wrong choice. The longer you hesitate, the more overwhelming the situation feels. Over time, this hesitation solidifies into avoidance, reinforcing the belief that uncertainty is something to be feared. It is easy to convince yourself that the choice in front of you is so critical that everything else must be put on hold. You tell yourself that if you analyse it just a little longer, clarity will come. But clarity rarely appears in stillness. More often than not, movement — any movement — is what breaks the cycle of overthinking. Taking even the smalle...

Anxiety is a very generous word, so generous that it makes a lot more sense in the plural, anxieties. This is because, like a large umbrella, a load of elements can fit under it. However, despite its multitude of disturbances and manifestations, anxiety can be traced back to quite simple and predictable stress triggers. In its origins, it is much more visceral and organic than people imagine. A common trigger, for example, is hunger. You can lose hunger, overeat, stick to a crash diet, all as a neurovegetative expression of stress. Irritability is another trivial trigger. You are more easily irritated, frustrated, and angry over nothing, cultivating an inner anger, sometimes silent, sometimes explosive. Loneliness is also an important trigger. It is a complex feeling that includes inadequacy, weakened belonging, nostalgia for everything that has already happened and for everything that cannot happen. It is a mood that can be thoughtful, rueful, self-defeating, filled with needi...

Over the years of studying human behaviour, one question has remained particularly complex: why do chronic anxiety sufferers so often push their emotional well-being to the background? How many times have I heard patients say they just can’t relax? That they went to the beach only to return feeling exactly the same? That they took a holiday but never truly unwound? Why is it so difficult for them to switch off from anxiety? From a biological perspective, it seems that in individuals with chronic anxiety, the amygdala remains highly sensitive, always on the verge of activation. This fuels that constant sense of uncertainty — the ever-present “what if this happens?” and “what if I can’t handle it?” As a result, the prefrontal cortex struggles to maintain rational thinking, making it easier for irrational thoughts to take hold. Yet, just an hour of mindfulness meditation, a session of music therapy, a visit to the sauna, or even a gentle walk outdoors could be enough to eas...

A defining trait of chronic stress is the unrelenting urgency — the sense that everything must be resolved "yesterday." The weight of this feeling is so immense that, among those acutely aware of their mounting responsibilities, nothing ever truly gets done, for everything is a priority. Another illusion spun by stress is the belief that any moment spent pausing is "wasted time." They believe this because they fail to recognise a fundamental human truth: our emotional energy is not infinite. When your emotional reserves are full, you feel invincible, ready to tackle anything, armed with the inner resources to overcome adversity. But if you are fighting at your weakest, with no glimpse of change on the horizon, you will likely choose to ignore the problem or push it aside for later. It seems contradictory — and in a way, it is — but this is the mind’s defence mechanism. At first, you deny your discomfort, and then, as if by instinct, you declare the matte...

We are living through something never before seen. A collective grief. A strange and quiet mourning, unfolding in layers. We do not grieve for a single thing, but for many. For the world that was, for the ordinary days that once seemed unremarkable. For the rhythm we had without knowing it was a rhythm. Something has shifted, and we feel it in the body. The loss of normality. The fear of what will become of us. The vanishing thread of social connection. It presses against us, all at once, an invisible weight. And there is a grief that is not yet grief, but already lingers in the air. Anticipatory grief. That sensation of standing at the edge of something vast and uncertain, trying to see what lies ahead, but only meeting fog. It is the grief of what might be, the whisper of a loss that has not yet happened but is already mourned. Usually, it is tied to death. A doctor utters an unspeakable diagnosis, and time fractures. Or, on a quiet afternoon, an ordinary thought slips in: one day, ...