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12/20/2017

Healthy Sleep and Insomnia: A TCM Point of View

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By Andrea Rivera
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     I'm going to talk about sleep and insomnia from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) point of view. I’m using what I’ve learned from a very successful sleep specialist, Damiana Corca, and the leader of sleep studies in TCM, Hamid Montakab. 

     It wasn’t until I started talking regularly about people’s sleep patterns (via asking detailed health history information before acupuncture sessions and herbal consults), that I realized just how many people don’t experience healthy sleep, or don’t realize that their sleep patterns are troubled and a larger problem than they think. Did you know that insomnia is considered CHRONIC when a person suffers from some type of insomnia for at least three nights a week for over a month? That’s not a very long time. I think that many people continue on with disturbed sleep this often for months, even years, without addressing it.

               So what is healthy sleep? These are a few of the  basics on what TCM considers healthy sleep:

  • Falling asleep within 20 minutes, if it takes longer than 30 minutes, this is considered insomnia. Note: on the other hand, if your head hits the pillow and within seconds of laying down or in less than 5 minutes you fall asleep, you could be sleep deprived.
  • Waking once and falling back to sleep easily is considered normal. Any trouble going back to sleep, waking twice or more (even to urinate) is too much for people to get back into proper states of sleep. 
  • Achieving proper depth of sleep. Sleep that’s not too superficial where you’re easily wakened by the smallest sound. Your sleep is also superficial if you’re experiencing dream disturbed sleep throughout the night.
  • Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep. 6 hours of sleep only works for some people, the ones who can function well and remain healthy have slept 6 hours their whole life. These people are rare. 
  • Waking rested with good energy. Your body and mind feel revitalized. You don’t wake too early, or before your desired and intended amount of sleep. 

                                            To contrast, any kind of insomnia may present like this:

  • Reduced sleep time due to difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking for various reasons, and early waking.
  • Superficial sleep due to mental restlessness, disturbing dreams, snoring, BRUXISM (teeth grinding, which so many people report as a problem), respiratory difficulties, and physical agitation like restless leg syndrome, pruritus (itching), and general discomfort or pain (secondary insomnia). 

     From this we gather that healthy sleep is achieved by reaching the proper depth and length of sleep. 

     In TCM, insomnia is a symptom, not a disease. Certain patterns of disharmony will result in disturbed sleep. Chinese medicine diagnoses the underlying patterns causing insomnia. When sleep issues are present without any obvious environmental cause, TCM can target the body’s imbalances to harmonize energies and create the internal environment necessary to achieve healthy sleep.

     The standard approach to treating insomnia is with medications. Unfortunately, drug therapies present troubling side-effects like dependency. According to Montakab, sleep that is induced by hypnotics is not physiologically normal:
  • Benzodiazepines (your hypnotic, sleep-inducing, anti-anxiety, muscle relaxing drugs) and opiates reduce Stage 4 sleep, the increase in total sleep time being due to an increase in Stage 2 sleep. So although you are sleeping, you're not experiencing the normal and necessary length of stages.
  • ​Antidepressant drugs cause reduced REM sleep.
*Something else I want to note here is that alcohol is not a good sleep aid. Alcohol initially causes sleepiness but often has a rebound effect later in the night that will seriously disturb sleep quality, whether you wake up or not. 

     Your practitioner can also provide council on achieving proper sleep hygiene and making lifestyle changes geared toward better sleep.  I’ve started treating sleep with almost every patient I see, no matter what their chief complaint is, and have seen it improve other areas of their health simultaneously. Healthy sleep is the cornerstone of healing. 

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Melissa link
8/13/2018 09:27:28 am

Good blog on healthy sleep and insomnia. As a licensed massage therapist I have seen many people with this problem . Massages can help! 😁

assignment writers link
9/24/2018 01:38:51 am

I usually fall asleep within 30 minutes of deciding that I need to sleep. I don't think that this can be considered insomnia in my case because I tend to think a lot of things before really going to a full sleep. The reason why I don't think that this can be considered as insomnia is simply because it is my choice not to full sleep within the time given. I have a friend of mine, however, who considers himself as insomniac because he can't fall asleep within 1 hour of his time. I asked him if it is hard to be like that and he just told me that it has its advantages and disadvantages.

Jerome Ngugi link
10/5/2020 02:49:14 pm

I'm a chronic insomniac. Most nights I find myself finally drifting off towards morning. What components of TCM are used to improve sleep patterns? Can acupuncture help?

clic aqui link
11/12/2020 08:25:00 am

En verano se incrementa el consumo de alcohol y las cenas se producen más tarde y son, muchas veces, más copiosas de lo habitual. Estos factores son el cóctel perfecto para tener problemas con el sueño.

CLIC AQUI link
8/13/2021 08:56:32 am

Acuéstate y levántate a la misma hora todos los días. Trata de que la diferencia en las horas de sueño entre las noches de los días de semana y de los fines de semana no sea superior a una hora. Ser constante refuerza el ciclo de sueño-vigilia del organismo.

colchones spaldin
10/30/2021 09:49:40 am

Durante el sueño también disminuye nuestra frecuencia cardíaca. Esto favorece el trabajo de reparación que hacen las células coronarias y los tejidos. En este momento nuestro organismo también libera la melatonina (también conocida como la hormona del sueño) y la hormona del crecimiento.
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Cole Burke link
10/10/2022 08:37:58 am

Help stay seat hand seven maintain same. Decision decide color including film make here. Than food carry hope sit no present drug.


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    Andrea is a licensed Acupuncturist, Massage Therapist and Chinese Herbalist living and practicing in the beautiful city of Missoula, Montana.
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