Perimenopause & Menopause: You Don't Have to Just Push Through
What you're experiencing is real!!
The broken sleep. The hot flushes that arrive uninvited. The anxiety that seems to come from nowhere, the brain fog, the feeling of being a stranger in your own body. These are not signs that you're falling apart. In fact, they are signs that your body is moving through one of the most significant hormonal transitions of your life.
I work with women at every stage of this journey, and one of the things I hear most often is: I thought I just had to put up with it. You don't. Here's what I want you to know about how acupuncture can support you through perimenopause & menopause and how it works beautifully alongside HRT if that's part of your care.
What Acupuncture Can Help With
As oestrogen and progesterone fluctuate and decline, the effects ripple through almost every system in the body. In my clinic, I commonly treat:
Hot flushes and night sweats
Disrupted sleep and insomnia
Anxiety, low mood and irritability
Brain fog and fatigue
Joint pain and muscle tension
Irregular or heavy periods
Reduced libido
Acupuncture works by stimulating specific points on the body to regulate the nervous system, reduce inflammation and restore hormonal balance. For hot flushes specifically, research shows it helps regulate the hypothalamus (the brain's temperature control centre) reducing both frequency and intensity, often within just a few sessions.
For sleep and anxiety, I find acupuncture particularly powerful. It shifts the nervous system out of fight-or-flight, encourages the release of serotonin and endorphins and reduces cortisol. Most women leave their sessions feeling a deep, grounded calm and sleep better that night.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we understand menopause as a time when Kidney Yin (the body's cooling, nourishing energy) naturally diminishes. I Western Medicine terms, this can be linked to lowering/fluctuating oestrogen levels. Symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats, dryness and insomnia are signs of this shift. Treatment focuses on replenishing that foundation and restoring flow through the body's meridians. It's not a system in breakdown. It's a system asking for deeper support.
Working Alongside HRT
If you're on HRT, acupuncture is not an either/or. In fact, the two complement each other very well and many of my patients use both.
HRT is effective and I fully support women who choose it. But it doesn't always resolve everything. Some women find that anxiety, sleep problems or fatigue persist even on a good HRT prescription. Others experience a turbulent adjustment period when starting or changing their dose. This is where I can help.
Acupuncture complements HRT by:
Easing the transition when starting or adjusting HRT
Addressing symptoms that remain despite HRT, particularly sleep, anxiety and energy fluctuations
Supporting the liver in processing and metabolising hormones effectively
Regulating the nervous system alongside the hormonal system
I always work in full alignment with your existing healthcare. If you're seeing a GP or menopause specialist, acupuncture sits comfortably within that team.
What to Expect at NRQi Studio
Many women come to me having never had acupuncture before and often after months or years of simply coping. My approach is always thorough, gentle, and entirely led by you.
Your first session begins with a detailed consultation which includes reviewing your symptoms, your sleep, your stress, your cycle history and how you feel generally from day to day. From this I build a treatment plan tailored specifically to you. The needles themselves are extremely fine; what most women experience as a sensation of warm heaviness as the body begins to respond. Treatments are deeply relaxing. Most women drift into a quiet, restful state and leave the clinic feeling settled and more grounded.
I may also recommend simple TCM-informed lifestyle adjustments between sessions . These are small, practical shifts that support your treatment and help you achieve results faster.
Treatment Frequency
Usually, one acupuncture appointment is not enough and I want to be honest about that from the start. Hormonal health takes time to shift and the most meaningful results come from consistent, cumulative treatments. I typically recommend one initial session followed by a minimum of three weekly follow-up appointments. From there, fortnightly or monthly maintenance sessions are encouraged to sustain your progress and keep your body in balance. Many women find that once they've completed their initial course, regular top-up sessions become a valued and non-negotiable part of how they look after themselves.
You Deserve More Than Just Managing
The conversation around menopause is finally changing. Women are refusing to be told this is just something to endure. You are allowed to seek support. You are allowed to feel well.
Whether you're in the earliest stages of perimenopause or well into menopause, I'd love to support you. Book your first session or get in touch if you have questions. I'm always happy to talk things through first.
Nickila x
Further Reading & Research
For those who'd like to explore the evidence behind acupuncture and menopause in more depth, the following studies and reviews are a good place to start.
Acupuncture for Menopausal Hot Flushes — Cochrane Review A Cochrane systematic review examining acupuncture's effectiveness in reducing hot flush frequency and severity in menopausal women. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6544807
The ACOM Study — BMJ Open (2019) A randomised controlled trial from Denmark finding that a brief, standardised course of acupuncture produced a clinically meaningful reduction in moderate-to-severe menopausal symptoms, with results sustained at six-month follow-up. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6501989
Acupuncture for Perimenopausal Depression — Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021) A systematic review and meta-analysis concluding that acupuncture is a safe and effective intervention for depression during perimenopause, with more stable long-term effects than antidepressants or HRT alone. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8192720
Acupuncture for Perimenopausal Depression & Insomnia — Frontiers in Public Health (2023) A randomised, sham-controlled clinical trial investigating acupuncture's efficacy for women experiencing both depression and insomnia during perimenopause. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9939459
Acupuncture & Hypothalamic Thermoregulation — NIH/PMC A peer-reviewed paper exploring the mechanisms by which acupuncture influences the hypothalamus and thermoregulatory centre, offering insight into why it reduces hot flushes. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3205728
Comparative Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Perimenopausal Syndrome — Frontiers in Neurology (2026) A large network meta-analysis of 49 randomised controlled trials covering 4,579 participants, comparing different acupuncture approaches for perimenopausal symptoms including hot flushes, insomnia, and mood. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12852026