It has long been thought that acupuncture can reduce stress, but this is the first study to show molecular proof of this benefit," said lead researcher, Dr Ladan Eshkevari. While traditional Chinese acupuncture has been thought to relieve stress -- in fact, the World Health Organization states that acupuncture is useful as adjunct therapy in more than 50 disorders, including chronic stress -- Eshkevari said that no one has biological proof that it does so. So she designed a study to test the effect of acupuncture on blood levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY), a hormone that is secreted by the sympathetic nervous system in rodents and humans in response to stress. In the first study of its kind she showed that acupuncture spot ST36 induced a lowering of NPY stress hormone.
http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/237/1/18
