Can’t Sleep? Get Rid of Sleepless Night with Acupuncture for Insomnia

Sleepless nights are always annoying and exhausting. After a long tiring day, it’s the sound sleep of 8-9 hours, which prepare us to face the challenges of the next day, and when those nights pass in restlessness, you can well imagine how it can affect our day to day activities. This is the reason why sleep-related impairments are considered the harshest among all and must be treated immediately.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder that affects up to 10% adults, according to University of Maryland Medical Centre. Difficulty in falling asleep, poor sleep or waking too early, all these disturbances are associated with people suffering from Insomnia. Since induced night sleep is not the same as natural sleep, more and more people are turning towards acupuncture for Insomnia, instead of drug therapies that make use of tranquilizers and anti-depressants that are harmful to the body.

How Acupuncture for Insomnia works?

Acupuncture treatment cures the problem from within. For insomniac patients, here are the 3 ways by which it works:

1) From the standpoint of Chinese medicine, an imbalance in the body’s energy system is one of the main causes of Insomnia. This imbalance prevents the body from relaxing properly. Acupuncture regulates this physiological function to help the person relax, which in turn induces sleep.

2) Acupuncture helps cure insomnia by regulating the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). ANS is the part of your nervous system that controls and runs your internal organs. It has two modes – sympathetic and parasympathetic. When the body runs into sympathetic mode, it becomes impossible for the person to rest because of the cortisol and adrenaline pumping through your body. Also, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing changes happen when on alert, making it difficult for a person to sleep. Acupuncture treatment brings your body into parasympathetic mode quickly and efficiently, so you can come to a relaxing state.

3) Acupuncture for Insomnia increases the power of chi (life energy or spirit) by targeting the specific channels in our body. Continued thoughts and stress affect our sleeping patterns. The trained acupuncturists find the correct channels and the pressure points through which they effectively “rewire” our “chi” so that every part of our body is relaxed and healed.

How much Effective Acupuncture is for Treating Insomnia: Evidence

As per a 2004 preliminary report published in NCBI journal, acupuncture increased nighttime melatonin secretion and total sleep time in patients who suffered from Insomnia. The patients who received this traditional Chinese treatment noticed improvement in their condition. They slept well and were less aroused at night. Another study published in NCBI journal found that acupuncture improved sleep quality in patients suffering from HIV. The researchers saw a significant improvement in sleep activity and sleep quality in HIV patients who followed 5 weeks of individualized treatment of acupuncture for Insomnia.

Another paper published on American Academy of Pain Management cited the benefits of acupuncture for reducing chronic pain, which can be a contributor to sleeplessness.

All these evidences confirm that acupuncture for Insomnia is an effective treatment for inducing natural sleep in a person without any significant side effects.