How Acupuncture Calms Stress: The Shen Explained
Understanding Stress Through Chinese Medicine
If there’s on thing that 95% of people need help with as they walk through my clinic doors, it’s stress. Especially women in perimenopause, burnout, or carrying heavy emotional loads.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), stress isn’t just a mental load — it’s a disturbance of the Shen, often translated as the Spirit of the Mind. The Shen relates to your emotional balance, clarity, sleep, presence, and resilience.
TCM teaches that the Shen is housed in the Heart, meaning anything that overstimulates, overwhelms, or scatters your energy can unsettle your Shen and lead to:
Anxiety
Stress and emotional overwhelm
Low mood
Insomnia
Feeling wired-tired
Restlessness or difficulty concentrating
Modern neuroscience maps closely to this idea: if your autonomic nervous system is dysregulated, your emotional and cognitive function is affected — exactly like a disturbed Shen.
Have a read below about how acupuncture helps calm stress, soothe the nervous system, improve sleep, and settle the Shen. We all need some more of that!
How Acupuncture Calms the Shen (With Evidence)
1. Acupuncture Reduces Anxiety
Most people are pretty familiar with the idea that acupuncture is amazing for helping to reduce stress and calm anxiety, and this is backed by science. In fact, a 2021 meta-analysis of 20 randomised controlled trials found that acupuncture significantly reduced anxiety compared with control treatments (source & source).
TCM translation:
Acupuncture settles the Shen by soothing the Heart, regulating Qi, and reducing internal heat or agitation.
2. Acupuncture Regulates Stress Hormones
A 2022 RCT showed that after 10 weeks of acupuncture, participants had:
Lower salivary cortisol levels
Significant reduction in anxiety symptoms (source)
TCM translation:
This mirrors the concept of clearing Heart Fire, cooling overstimulation, and grounding the Shen. My peri patients, this is what we talk about!
3. Acupuncture Improves Sleep
Good sleep is essential for the Shen, as sleep is when the Shen returns to the Heart to rest. In Chinese medicine, this is key - it’s when the Emperor returns for rest.
Evidence shows strong benefits:
2025 insomnia network meta-analysis: Acupuncture significantly improved sleep quality and reduced insomnia symptoms (source).
Chronic insomnia study: Other systematic reviews support acupuncture’s effectiveness in insomnia and related sleep outcomes overall (source).
TCM translation:
Better sleep = a calm, anchored Shen.
4. Acupuncture Regulates the Nervous System
Acupuncture reduced heart rate and blood pressure in stressed university students, suggesting autonomic regulation effects - we like this! This shows increased parasympathetic activity (source).
Why this matters:
Parasympathetic dominance = your “calm, safe, restorative” state. In TCM terms, this is literally settling the Shen and restoring Heart–Kidney harmony.
5. Acupuncture Supports Mental Health in Chronic Stress Conditions
A 2024 clinical review found acupuncture improved:
Anxiety
Depression
Overall mental wellbeing
A broader review also found acupuncture improves mental health symptoms across long-term health conditions.
TCM translation:
Nourishing Blood, regulating Qi, and calming the Heart supports emotional resilience long-term.
What This Means for You
From both an Eastern and Western perspective, acupuncture helps you:
Feel calmer and more grounded
Regulate your stress response
Sleep better
Improve emotional resilience
Reduce the physical symptoms of stress
Feel more like yourself again
When the Shen is calm, your mind feels clearer, your emotions feel more stable, and your body finally gets the chance to restore itself.
YOUR REMINDER:
Stress isn’t a sign that you’re failing — it’s your Shen asking for care. Small, simple acts like a calming acupuncture session, a few minutes of acupressure, or a nourishing meal can make a real difference. Over time, your mind feels lighter, your emotions steadier, and you start to feel like yourself again. Your Shen is worth this care — listen to it.