Acupuncture for insomnia is much more mainstream in this day and age as many people are looking for non-pharmaceutical alternatives for treating their sleep disorders to help avoid side-effects. Fortunately, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are effective holistic ways to treat any sleep issues that you may be having including insomnia that will have more lasting effects than standard medication. While standard medicine obviously has its place with some things, insomnia is one of those conditions where medications are over-prescribed and causing more harm than good with most patients. Acupuncture has been utilized to treat insomnia and other sleep disorders for thousands of years overseas, and in the U.S. since the 1970’s. Even though many people in the United States are unaware that acupuncture treats anything else besides chronic pain, it has been researched for years with positive outcomes in treating insomnia with acupuncture.
Insomnia Basics
Getting enough sleep every night is vital for proper health and functioning during the day, but to those who have insomnia this is much easier said than done. It is recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that adults get 7 hours of sleep per night at a minimum, and more than 35% get less than 7 hours each night. Insomnia is best described as a common sleep disorder that can leave a person with both trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and also waking up too early in the morning. Unfortunately, not getting enough sleep can not only affect the person at night, but also during waking hours as you feel sleepier during the day.
Main Types of Insomnia:
- Primary Insomnia – insomnia that is not linked to another health condition.
- Secondary Insomnia – insomnia that is linked to a health condition such as depression, cancer, asthma, heartburn, arthritis, pain, medications, or substance abuse.
Specific Types of Insomnia:
- Sleep-Maintenance Insomnia – this is when someone has an issue staying asleep at night or waking up too early in the morning.
- Sleep-Onset Insomnia – this is when someone has an issue getting to sleep to begin with.
- Mixed Insomnia – this is when someone has an issue getting to sleep and staying asleep throughout the night.
- Paradoxical Insomnia – this is when someone feels like they slept less than they actually do.
There are also cases of short-term insomnia which is usually caused by stress or changes in your environment lasting a few days or weeks at most. Conversely, chronic insomnia happens more than 3 nights per week lasting more than 3 months. The thing with insomnia is that it alone could be the problem, or many times it could be related to other ongoing conditions that you may or may not know about.
Common Causes of Insomnia:
- Bad Sleep Habits – this can be going to bed or waking up at different hours each day, being too hyper before bed, not having a comfortable sleep area, taking naps during the day, working, eating, or watching tv in bed. Additionally, this can include using electronics before bedtime can severely disrupt the melatonin surge that is needed to fall asleep as well as being associated with poor sleep quality according to recent research.
- Stress – any number of issues that adults deal with daily can cause stress such as work, health, school, money, family, or more traumatic events like divorce or death of a loved one, and these can make it difficult to sleep at night.
- Mental Health Conditions – insomnia is known to occur often along with other mental health conditions such as depression or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
- Schedule – this can be your work or travel schedule which can interrupt your circadian rhythm (also known as your internal clock), and this interruption can cause insomnia.
- Medications – various prescription medications can disrupt sleep such as certain antidepressants, blood pressure, and asthma medications. There are also some over the counter medications that can mess with sleep such as pain medicine, weight loss medication/supplements, and cold and allergy medicines.
- Medical Conditions – there are several conditions that have been associated with insomnia such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), and Parkinson’s disease.
There are many other reasons that can cause or are related to insomnia like too much caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine, as well as eating too much before bed. There also can be an issue for people as they age as sleep patterns as well as activity levels change as time arches on. Usually in standard medicine it is recommended to stay active, keeping the sleep schedule the same every night, limit naps, limit caffeine, and more to prevent insomnia. While these are beneficial suggestions, they are not always enough as everyone has different factors involved in their individual situations. This is where acupuncture may be beneficial as it not only treats the root cause, but also the person as an individual which is unique to eastern medicine.
Acupuncture for Insomnia
Acupuncture for insomnia is a non-pharmaceutical alternative for a wide variety of issues such as cancer symptoms, back pain, neck pain, anxiety and depression, quitting smoking, weight loss, and of course, insomnia and much more. Acupuncture has been shown to have fewer side effects than medications while also being safe and effective. Research has shown positive effects of acupuncture for the treatment of insomnia, one study even stating that the neurotransmitters involved in the body’s internal clock are positively affected by acupuncture.
Neurotransmitters Positively Affected by Acupuncture:
- Melatonin – allows the body to calm down and get the body ready for sleep.
- Norepinephrine – helps the body stay awake
- GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) – allows the body to fall and stay asleep through the night.
There are many benefits to seeking acupuncture treatment for your insomnia outside of the fact that it is safer. Many standard medicine providers now are even recommending acupuncture treatment for various ailments that people experience because it simply works.
Acupuncture Benefits for Insomnia:
- Increasing energy while decreasing fatigue
- Building up memory and concentration
- Improving digestion
- Decreasing headaches
- Encouraging more restful sleep via regulating the nervous system
- Increasing melatonin secretion
- Increasing blood flow to relax the mind and body
- Decreasing the body’s fight or flight response in the nervous system
- Managing the levels of neurotransmitters
- Increase nitric oxide which will stimulate hormone release and regulate neurotransmission
From the standard medical standpoint, acupuncture is considered a neuromodulator meaning that it regulates the nervous system which runs the show that is our bodies. In traditional Chinese medicine, insomnia is due to external factors as well as insufficient nutrients in the body, instability between the related internal organ roles, and bad blood circulation. Essentially, acupuncturists search to find the main cause of your insomnia and treat it on an individual basis. Since it is treated for the individual and their unique body make up, it is no wonder that acupuncture works for insomnia.
Try Acupuncture for Insomnia
In your acupuncture visit, your licensed acupuncturist will ask about your sleep history in detail as well as any accompanying symptoms. Your acupuncturist may also recommend herbs, depending on the diagnosis, to be taken as supplements or used in cooking or in teas to drink daily. Your acupuncturist may also give lifestyle advice to prevent insomnia in combination with your acupuncture treatment which match the advice of standard medicine.
Acupuncture can be safely combined with standard medication for insomnia, but it is a safe and beneficial treatment all on its own. In fact, according to a study done in 2022, The Effects of Electroacupuncture in Patients with Depression, it showed that the quality of sleep was significantly improved in the electroacupuncture group as opposed to the control sustaining better sleep through week 32 post treatment. If you have tried everything, or are tired of the side-effects or potential dependence on standard medications for insomnia, find your local acupuncturist and see what can be done to help with your insomnia. Sleep tight!