PC 6 Aids Short Term Stress Induced Memory Loss

Korean researchers from the Center for Biomedical Science within the National Insitute of Health in Seoul recently conducted a study looking at the widely used acupuncture point pericardium 6 (PC 6).  PC 6 is used for nausea, stress, anxiety, breathing issues and a host of other problems - it is the point where the nausea bands are supposed to sit.  People can use it with acupressure to quickly open their breathing and calm themselves and within acupuncture it is broadly used.  What it does in pure western biochemical terms, however, is still somewhat unknown.

This study looked at brain chemistry levels involved with memory and the effect that needling PC 6 had on these levels.  Researchers performed the tests on rats so they could directly measure changes in these levels (acetylcholinesterase (AchE) in the hippocampus particularly).  The study involved needling PC 6 and retaining for 3 minutes and they found significant memory improvements within the study group compared to the non acupuncture control group.  Generally the results show that this point has an effect on learning and memory related problems particularly related to stress involved loss.