Acupuncture, Acne and Depression

Isabelle A. Vallerand, an MD/ PhD. student at the University of Calgary and her colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using patient information from the Health Improvement Network from 1986 and 2012 and found that patients with acne have a higher chance of developing a major depressive disorder. The patients were between the ages of 7 and 50 and were followed for 2 or more years until the first episode of a major depressive disorder. There were 134,437 acne patients and 1,731,608 patients who did not have acne followed for 15 years. The probability of developing depression was 18.5% in patients with acne and 12% for those without acne. The article was published in The British Journal of Dermatology.

We now know that acne can be linked to an imbalance of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. When people do not eat a healthy diet and drink too much alcohol, they tend to develop acne. Depression is linked with the imbalance of the chemicals. If relaxing chemicals such as GBA, progesterone, and serotonin are too low, then people tend to develop depression even though they have a solid family life and adequate money.

Also Read: Acupuncture Can Treat Depression Effectively

If testosterone and estrogen are too high, people tend to develop anxiety, panic attack, and aggressiveness. I have noticed that young people who eat too much spicy food, sweets and drink too much alcohol have a higher chance of developing acne and depression. The unhealthy diet may help you release more dopamine at the moment you eat, but your body may not produce enough dopamine over time. Eventually, the rewarding hormones drop off, and you feel depressed.

Acupuncture can help you change your eating habits without increasing your stress level. Additionally, acupuncture can help you sleep deeper so your body can produce more happy hormones such as endorphin, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, nd GABA. Eating more fruit and vegetables will provide your body with raw materials for the production of happy hormones. Furthermore, Acupuncture helps to improve your liver function, so your liver can deactivate the estrogen and testosterone more efficiently after the hormones finish their job.

Also Read: Acupuncture for Acne. How does it work?