Kate was asked to comment on a new pair of tights that claims to stimulate acupuncture points to help relieve stress and PMS!
"Perhaps you’ve heard: A new groundbreaking pair of tights promise to ease insomnia and PMS, diminish blemishes and banish cellulite for anyone who wears them.
German legwear company Item M6’s ‘beauty tights’ have ceramic gems melted into their yarn, which supposedly turn body warmth into infrared radiation, helping to break down fat cells. But a more interesting claim is that the £49.90 tights use the power of acupressure – stimulating a point called the ‘Spleen 6 meridian’ specifically – to ease all kinds of physical and mental symptoms.
Metro.co.uk asked experienced acupuncturist Kate Winstanley about what she thought of them. ‘Nice idea, but I can’t see how the tights could fit accurately enough to compress what is essentially a very small acupuncture point,’ Kate says. ‘If the tights are a centimeter off, then they won’t work!’ Despite this, Kate says that they’ll still have a ‘general therapeutic effect on the meridians on the legs, and help move qi [a kind of energy] which might make you feel perkier.’
Because the problem isn’t with stimulating that specific acupressure point – according to Kate, doing this can be pretty effective at easing the ailments the tights claim to – but trying to achieve this by wearing certain clothing. ‘Activating Spleen 6 does do these things incredibly well but the pressure would need to be quite strong to do this,’ she explains. ‘I can’t see how a pair of tights could A, elicit enough pressure, and B, be in the right place.’ Fine – so our dreams of life-solving tights have been dashed. But what about other items of clothing?
‘In a word, no! ‘The only thing that comes close is those travel sickness bands that you put on your wrists, which are nice and tight, and you’re given instructions as to how to place them accurately.’ So while Item M6’s tights might perk us up a little, it sounds like it’s back to expensive skincare products and ibuprofen for now. Couldn’t we just have this one thing?"
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2016/11/11/could-a-pair-of-tights-really-relieve-stress-and-pms-6251554/?ito=cbshare
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