Sleep troubles are perhaps one of the most challenging things to deal with. It is difficult when you are the person not sleeping, and it can be difficult as a practitioner to treat. That is not to say that acupuncture isn’t a great tool to help with sleep, it is, and can be really beneficial, but insomnia and sleep problems are often complex. There are usually multiple factors contributing to the problem and teasing those out can be hard. Some of those factors are things such as sleep environment, diet, emotional stress and burden, pain, pets, kids, blood sugar or inflammation to name a few. 

I have personally struggled with insomnia for many many years. I understand what you are going through because I have been there. My personal take after lots of experience and self reflection is that most of the time sleep problems boil down to two main things 1. Over stressed nervous system and 2. A mental/emotional component. I personally have found that once you fall into a bout of insomnia it transforms itself into cyclic thinking where the more you think and worry about not sleeping the more impossible it is to sleep and then that leads you to worry about another sleepless night, etc. So the question becomes how do we interrupt that cycle? Slow the thinking and calm the body.

So how can acupuncture help you? Acupuncture can help in a couple of different ways. It can help by addressing the two very challenges that we mentioned above. Calming the mind and the body.

Acupuncture is proven time and time again to reduce inflammation, address pain and sedate the nervous system. By helping the body disengage in fight or flight we can get the body to enter into the sleep state more easily. It has also been shown time and time again to help with the reduction of stress and anxiety through this calming of the nervous system, balancing hormones and by reducing systemic inflammation. In addition to what physical acupuncture can do for your body your practitioner should also be able to help you develop some tools for home. 

The second thing that acupuncture can do to help improve sleep quality is to help reconnect the body to the mind in a sense. In traditional Chinese medicine each organ and organ system is also associated with an emotion and a mental aspect. In this system of medicine the mind and the body are connected and I believe that is also true for sleep trouble. Connecting the physical and the mental is an important aspect to getting your sleep back on track .So your practitioner will look at your overall body picture and see where there may be possible imbalances and how they connect to your sleep problems. Together you will develop a plan of care to reharmonize the body and mind. You can then develop tools to use in the office and  at home to get your sleep back on track. 

The tools 

• Acupuncture-sedate and reharmonize the nervous system, reduce inflammation, balance hormones and promote circulation

• Cupping/Gua sha/Moxa-release tension, relieve muscle pain, add energy to taxed system and relax the body

• Herbal medicine- rebalance the body, help with sleep quantity and quality 

• Diet/Exercise-rebalancing the body, producing endorphins, regulating hormones, weight and energy levels. 

• Sleep hygiene practices-journaling, meditation, no screens, routine, etc.

Sleep is very important for all aspects of your life, so if you are struggling with insomnia or sleep problems consider visiting your local acupuncturist and see how they can help you. 

Warms wishes & good health 

Serena