Acupuncture For Insomnia
Insomnia and sleep disturbance has become a more common, widespread issue in modern, urban life. With stress and anxiety at work and at home, sleep can become interrupted and our health can suffer from a lack of good quality rest. Luckily acupuncture and herbal medicine can help to improve sleep without the addictive issues and nasty side effects of western medications. In Toyohari Japanese acupuncture there are several common patterns associated with insomnia, depending on the specific symptoms:
- Liver deficiency pattern insomnia usually presents with restless sleep, tossing and turning and waking throughout the night. Liver excess pattern is unable to sleep at all. The Heart Fire pattern is also manic and disturbed and unable to sleep
- Spleen pattern is less restless, but is characterized more by difficulty falling asleep and difficulty waking in the morning.
- The Kidney deficiency pattern is associated with not really being able to fall into a deep sleep and and just resting on the surface through the night. Also fearful dreams and early morning wakening.
- The Lung deficiency pattern is sleepy during the day but not so much at night.
Do you recognize any of these insomnia patterns ? Deep restful sleep is so important to good health and well being, and Acupuncture can greatly help with sleep issues ! By treating the underlying pattern with acupuncture and using herbal medicine like Herb Pharm's Relaxing Sleep Formula, Source Naturals Melatonin Complex, and a custom Chinese herbal formula, I can often get an excellent and lasting improvement in sleep issues for most patients with insomnia.