For those of you who have had acupuncture–you know how good you feel after a treatment. There's a general sense of well-being that is derived from acupuncture that is often indescribable. But, man does it feel good.

Well, now we have some scientific evidence that can help us understand how acupuncture actually reduces stress. Researchers at Georgetown University studied the effect of acupuncture on rats by testing for levels of a certain neuropeptide, called neuropeptide Y (NPY). NPY is released in the body during stressful events–particularly flight or fight events.

What the scientists found was that rats who were put into stressful situations and then received acupuncture (at the acupoint St36) had NPY levels almost similar to rats in the control group (rats who were not exposed to stress), while the rats that were stressed and not treated with acupuncture had high levels of NPY.

Pretty interesting. To read more about this study, check out this article.