Obviously the risks around not getting enough sleep are serious, and so getting the best health care treatment is essential. Luckily, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have been treating sleep issues for thousands of years. Sleep concerns that are often treated with TCM include (note that the definition of ‘insomnia’ could relate to several the next symptoms):
In TCM, it is your Spirit (capitalized here to differentiate from other definitions), also called your Mind, or in Mandarin, your ‘Shen’, which your quality of sleep is determined by (note that this can be a simplification: other sources may distinguish between the Spirit and the Mind as two separate entities). The organ system in charge of nourishing your Spirit is the Heart, and specifically the Yin portion (each of your 5 major organs in TCM have both a Yin and a Yang side to them). If your Heart Yin has been nourished properly your sleep will undoubtedly be okay, but if it is deficient or agitated, you will suffer from sleep concerns.
Deficiencies in your Heart organ system generally come from genetic predisposition, poor diet, childbirth, and the after-effects of external pathogens. Agitating factors usually involve emotional disturbances such as stress, anger or depression, but can also involve natura 睡眠呼吸機比較 l TCM elemental disturbances, such as Fire or Wind. Essentially, emotional issues as well as Fire and Wind are often related to your Liver, and so Liver Yin deficiency may also affect your sleep.
Dream-disturbed sleep (i.e. dreams that are so intense or disturbing that your sleep is affected), while usually indicative of a deficiency, may sometimes be the explanation for an excess as well. Like, it is said in ancient TCM texts that dreaming about flying while seeing strange objects made of gold or iron indicates a Lung deficiency (your Lungs govern your breathing and immune system). Dreaming about crying however, often means an excess in your Lung organ system (the emotion associated with your Lungs is sadness or grief). Incidentally, it is also believed that your sleeping position, i.e. if you prefer to sleep on your own stomach, your back or one side, this might indicate a specific deficiency or excess pattern. Snoring affecting your sleep is often correlated to an excess pattern.
When pursuing acupuncture as remedy for sleep issues, it is essential to seek assistance from someone who is a qualified TCM practitioner, as an effective diagnosis is important to getting adequate results. Proper diagnosis of your sleep issue will first determine whether your condition is one of deficiency or excess, and furthermore which type thereof. Like, difficulty in dropping off to sleep usually indicates one type of deficiency, whereas dropping off to sleep easily but getting up frequently through the night may indicate an alternative type of deficiency altogether. By asking several questions, taking your pulse and possibly even considering your tongue, a TCM practitioner can diagnose you quite accurately, and therefore choose the right span of treatment specific to your needs.
