Ear Seeding Is A Wellness Tool People Are Using To Reduce Stress And Chronic Pain – Yahoo Lifestyle

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Sure, your necklace looks cute around your neck, your dangly earrings add some flair to your outfit, and your chunky ring spices up your pretty mani. But those jewelry items arent doing any *work* for you, you know? Time to try ear seedslittle ear accessories that can actually double as pain-reducing, good-for-you mental health tools.

Ear seeding, or auriculotherapya practice from traditional Chinese medicine that involves placing a small seed (or metal or ceramic bead with adhesive, which is more common nowadays) on your cartilage and outer earmay set off changes in your nervous system and, in turn, your body and vibe. So if you suffer from issues like stress, allergies, digestion probs, back pain, and more (*slowly raises hand*), you might want to put yourself in the market for these tiny but mighty gadgets.

And while there are tons of supposed benefits, youll want more information about some of the ins and outs of ear seeding before starting to stick them all over your ears. Understandable. The following are all your questions about ear seeds, answered by a doctor of internal medicine, a trained acupuncturist, and a holistic practitioner. In short, your ears are in good hands.

You use ear seeds as a method for quelling mind and body aches, even if theyre particularly painful. You can put an ear seed on one of various points on your ear, depending on what kind of therapeutic benefit you want, says Shari Auth, DACM, a holistic practitioner and cofounder of WTHN acupressure studio.

In Chinese medicine, the ear is a microsystem of the whole body with dozens of pressure points that do different things from relieving pain to boosting digestion, balancing hormones, calming the mind or helping you sleep, Auth explains. And while ear seeds dont work instantly, per se, they can shift your energy pretty fast and, most important, effectively.

The theory is that acupressure points in the ear match up with spots on your body, and by placing the bead, you tell your nervous system to turn down pain receptors and stress hormones impacting the area, says Tiffany Lester, MD, an internist and acupuncturist at Parsley Health.

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How quickly that happens depends on the issue. In serious pain? It may take a day or two. If you use seeds for stress, though, you should relax within an hour or so of applying.

The placement of your seed doesnt need to be exact in order to work, so its pretty foolproof to DIY; you can buy ear seeds from Amazon or other online retailers. Search ear seed diagram in Google to find an ear acupressure map that shows where to place based on the ailment.

If youd feel more comfortable having a pro do it, you can have seeds applied professionally at some spas and alternative medicine practices, though itll cost anywhere from 35 to 85 dollars for the jewels and involve a 10ish-minute process.

Yes. Ear seeds are pretty much harmless, and they shouldnt cause pain at all. You can even press down on your beads with your fingers when you want a boost in the acupressure benefits (for example, if youre feeling more anxious than normal and need a surge of ahhh), says Auth. A little red dot might appear on your ear, but its nothing more than a baby bruise. Just make sure you dont wear them longer than a week, to avoid uncomfortable swelling or soreness, says Lester. Roger that.

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Ear Seeding Is A Wellness Tool People Are Using To Reduce Stress And Chronic Pain - Yahoo Lifestyle