Are you snoozing?

How often does the alarm rouse you from sleep as you inch your hand over to hit the snooze button a little longer despite your best intentions of getting up on time?  Do you rationalize that you don’t need much time to get ready for work anyway, just a few more minutes rest?  At the critical time, do you jump up out of bed in a panic that now you’ll be too late?

One morning of this is not really so bad. It’s the day after day after day that creates problems.  Our bodies function the same way – symptoms are the alarm warning us that it is time to wake up and do something.  We can usually “snooze” for a little while, but sooner or later it reaches a tipping point and that alarm is going to wail at us until we listen.

What are your options when symptoms arise?

Do nothing?  Many hope that by ignoring the problem it will somehow go away.  Maybe it will, but if the underlying cause is not resolved, it might come back.

Take a pill?Maybe it will help, at least for a little while, but it might just mask the symptoms or create new ones.

Get a treatment? Acupuncture is designed to treat not only the symptoms (the “branch” of the tree) but also the underlying cause of the problem (the “root” of the tree).  Instead of hitting snooze on your symptoms, it is typically far easier, far quicker, and far cheaper to treat a condition when the symptoms first start.  Listen to those symptoms – they are your body’s way of talking to you.  Don’t wait.  And for those who have already waited so long that the alarm bells are blaring, know that it is never too late to find out how acupuncture can help.