Got Insomnia? Acupuncture can help!

Got Insomnia? Acupuncture can help!

There is nothing worse than not being able to sleep at night. Tossing and turning, watching the clock tick closer and closer to when you need to get up and start your day….its a dreadful feeling. There are a lot of commercial remedies out there, but who wants to become dependent on a nightly sleeping pill? Why not try Acupuncture instead?!

There are several ways in which Acupuncture can help.

1. Acupuncture can help your body produce more melatonin:

In an article published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Spence et al. explored the relationship between melatonin and acupuncture treatments. They observed a significant increase in endogenous melatonin secretion in all of the 18 patients suffering from severe insomnia who were given acupuncture treatments twice a week for 5 weeks. Records of electrical and muscular states during the entire sleeping time indicated that, after acupuncture treatments, the patients took less time to fall asleep, had fewer occasions of waking up during sleep, and experienced increased total sleep time and deep sleep time. Anxiety, depression and fatigue were also decreased. Interestingly, alertness in the morning was reduced as well.

2. Acupuncture can improve blood flow to improve sleep quality:

Hecht and his colleagues studied the relationship between the blood flow to the brain and insomnia. They noted that an insufficient blood flow to the brain could lead to low sugar levels and spontaneous waking from sleep.

3. Acupuncture can decrease effects of aging:

The weakening of parasympathetic function results in the familiar signs of aging, including increased and irregular heartbeats, constipation, insomnia, erectile dysfunction, fluid retention, and systemic inflammation. These consequences may in turn contribute to many of the common diseases associated with aging, including Type-II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arteriosclerosis, and cancer. The maintenance and restoration of parasympathetic function may boost the functions of the internal organs and slow the aging process. Acupuncture generally enhances the parasympathetic nervous system.

4. Acupuncture can reduce pain:

Acupuncture has a very good analgesic effect and can thereby help people with pain improve their sleep quality.

5. Acupuncture can reduce stress hormones to treat insomnia:

When we are under chronic stress, such as over-thinking and overworking, our body produces more cortisol to keep us alert during the daytime. When we are under acute stress, such as a fight-or-flight condition, our body produces more epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine. These two stress hormones deeply affect our sleep quality.