After an exhausting day, you settle into bed for the night. You close your eyes and take a deep breath trying to get your body ready for relaxation, only nothing happens. You lay there thinking. Maybe about your day, the people you interacted with, an important project at work, or family. Whatever it is, you can’t fall asleep and it’s beyond irritating that this is becoming the “norm” for you. You’re aware of mood swings and lack of concentration during the day, leading to over eating and poor dietary choices. You need to sleep but you’ve tried everything, to no avail. Or have you?
Acupuncture is recommended by the National Institute of Health as an effective treatment for insomnia by improving sleep quality, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and daytime functioning. It works by restoring the internal sleep-wake cycle by regulating the natural flow of Qi, and also by reducing stress and anxiety. At StillWaters Healing Center, we not only provide a soothing environment for your treatment, but we can also provide dietary recommendations, herbal supplements, and other suggestions along with Acupuncture to help you achieve your goal of restorative sleep.
It is important for patients to understand just how deep rooted insomnia is, in reference to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Sleep issues may be slow to resolve but the benefits are long lasting once the sleep cycle is beginning to balance out. Acupuncture treatment for insomnia requires consistency in order to be most effective. Remember – it’s your body doing the work and insomnia doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient.
While you’re traveling along the journey of receiving Acupuncture for Insomnia, you’ll want to make sure of the following:
- You aren’t drinking too much water before bed
- You aren’t looking at a tv or device within 1-2 hours before bed
- You practice some form of relaxation technique such as breathing exercises, yoga, stretching, mediation, or journaling within 30 minutes of bed
So much happens during sleep such as hormone regulation, muscle and tissue repair, cellular repair, immune support, and body system checks. All of these things are vital for quality of life.
It is estimated that 50-70 million Americans suffer with a sleep disorder. Without proper sleep there is an increase in long-term health effects such as:
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- High Blood Pressure
- Obesity
- Mood Disorders
- Mental Health Issues
- Immune Dys-Function
- Alcoholism
It’s not surprising that with the many health effects poor sleep creates, that the life expectancy is shorter. Data from 3 large studies showed sleeping 5 hours or less for prolonged periods of time, increased mortality risk by 15%.
Time for a nap? I think so.