Acupuncture and insomnia
Insomnia affects your day to day life, making functioning sometimes intolerable.
Traditional five element acupuncture can help with insomnia.
There are many reasons why insomnia occurs such as stress, children, work and family problems, mental health issues, chronic pain, long-term illness, medication and cancer treatments, PMS, menopause, work and shift patterns, relationship problems the list goes on…
These all affect the body, mind, and spirit this is where treatment with traditional five element acupuncture comes to the rescue.
There is some encouraging evidence which suggests that acupuncture has a role to play in helping people to deal with longstanding sleep problems. Indeed, the issue is a very topical one Toyah Wilcox found acupuncture to be a very effective solution to a sleep problem which she had had for many years. See her talk;- on the link to u tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7CLBCogV9w
Research has shown that acupuncture treatment may specifically be of benefit in people with insomnia by:
- increasing nocturnal endogenous melatonin secretion (Spence et al 2004).
- stimulating opioid (especially b-endorphin) production and µ-opioid receptor activity (Cheng et al 2009).
- increasing nitric oxide synthase activity and nitric oxide content, helping to promote the normal function of brain tissues, which could help to regulate sleep (Gao et al 2007).
- increasing cerebral blood flow (Yan 2010)
- reducing sympathetic nervous system activity, hence increasing relaxation (Lee 2009a)
- regulating levels of neurotransmitters (or their modulators) such as serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, GABA and neuropeptide Y; hence altering the brains’ mood chemistry to help to increase relaxation and reduce tension (Lee 2009b; Samuels 2008; Zhou 2008).
Acupuncture can be safely combined with conventional medical treatments for insomnia, such as benzodiazepines, helping to reduce their side effects and enhance their beneficial effects (Cao et al 2009). Hopefully with a view to reducing the use of medication (in conjunction with GP’s advice)
For more information about treatment contact Hannah on;- https://www.southwellacupuncture.co.uk/contact/
