At one point or another, stress affects everyone. And if you’re a working professional trying to balance your career and your personal life, you are even more likely to feel pressure and stress. Luckily, there are effective and natural measures you can take to ease the stress you’re experiencing.

Read on to uncover how complementary and alternative medicine can help relieve your stress!

Celebrity suicides from Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain to Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington are bringing to light the increasing prevalence of depression. Despite the stigma, more celebrities like Lady Gaga and Jim Carrey are speaking out. Mental health issues are not limited to celebrities, however. They are actually much more widespread than many may think.

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), antidepressant use has risen by 65% between 1999 and 2014. A 2017 study also shows depression increased “significantly” among persons in the U.S. from 2005 to 2015, from 6.6% to 7.3%.

Research tells us that one of the biggest triggers for depression is chronic stress both from physical health issues such as chronic pain and psychosocial issues. So it is no surprise that with the economic and social stressors during the last 10 years that rates of depression would be on the rise.

Alongside pharmaceuticals, utilizing various types of treatment modalities including complementary and alternative medicine techniques often can lead to better outcomes than single modality interventions. These techniques may also help those who might want to rely less on pharmaceuticals in the long term.

Acupuncture is defined as a healing practice that stimulates certain parts of the body to alleviate pain. The practice of acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. In fact, this ancient healing technique is over 3,000 years old! It is based on the insertion of thin, sterile needles into strategic points on the body that lie along specific energy meridian pathways.

Acupuncture is popular in the United States because of its use to alleviate pain, prevent disease, and promote wellness. This common treatment, although offering its numerous benefits and advantages, has its fair share of misconceptions.

Despite acupuncture’s popularity, there remain some misconceptions. Below are 5 of the most common myths surrounding acupuncture.

Even though it's cold and flu season, not everyone gets sick.  If you're able to fend off a contagious cold or flu, it may be because you have strong Wei Qi (pronounced "way chee"), according to oriental medicine experts. On the other hand, if you seem to catch every virus going around, you may have weak Wei Qi.

Acupuncture is becoming more widely accepted as an effective means of treatment within the traditional health care system. According to an American Hospital Association survey, 42 percent of hospitals that offer complementary and alternative medicine provide acupuncture as an outpatient service.

If you are looking to become an acupuncture and/or oriental medicine (AOM) practitioner you more than likely have a lot of questions about the industry, career outlook, how to select a program, and the best way to successfully and easily navigate the admissions process.

Research has proven that acupuncture can improve a person’s well-being by stimulating the body’s healing processes, making it an important component to an integrative health care plan. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has determined that this non-invasive health care treatment is safe and effective when it comes to helping patients overcome a variety of ailments.

From pain management to stress reduction, experts are finding that the positive effects of acupuncture are broad and far-reaching. Patients can experience not only physical wellbeing, but also an improved state of mind and a more balanced emotional state, after they have undergone acupuncture sessions. So if you have been hoping to enhance your health this year, finding a qualified acupuncturist could be just what you need to get the relief you’ve been waiting for, without the use of strong prescriptions or invasive procedures.

In a world where technology and business are growing, so are chronic disease, obesity, depression, and anxiety. Nowadays, people are searching for ways to improve their quality of life. With interest in fitness and wellness on the rise, the mainstream media has helped spread awareness of how complementary and alternative medicine can be utilized to improve health.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine may be an ancient form of medicine, but its uses have kept pace with today’s modern medical advances. In some cases, oriental medicine can be a more effective treatment than conventional medicine (and less harmful, too).

The health community widely recognizes that acupuncture and oriental medicine can effectively treat several conditions. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes acupuncture and oriental medicine as effective for over 43 conditions under nine major health categories.

Through this and other research findings, the western world is now discovering (and proving) the types of clinical benefits that people in Asian countries have been experiencing with oriental medicine for years.

Most people who enter the medical field do so, at least in part, because they hope to have a positive impact on the lives of their patients. As demand increases for alternative medicine in its various forms, National University of Health Sciences is proud to offer the opportunity to pursue an education in holistic, evidence based, patient centered health care that goes beyond the limits of traditional Western medicine. Below are four such careers: