Acupuncture Is A Natural Insomnia Cure
Acupuncture is a natural insomnia cure, and better than any drug. Sleep, goes the old saw, is overrated. The pronouncement is often uttered by a bleary-eyed person when asked why they are not home asleep, snoring for all they are worth. And that may be true for them. Yet there are many people who’d love to be able to close their eyes and, for six to eight hours go unconscious, but can’t. Part of the reason is that the sympathetic nervous system, otherwise labeled as the ‘fight-or-flight’ system, sometimes goes into automatic when we are heavily stressed out. Rather than letting the autonomic nervous system take over, we simply cannot let go of the mind, and the body ends up suffering. Acupuncture releases endorphins that, over time, ease the hold that the nerves have on the body. And we become quite rattled when we cannot sleep.
The civilized world knows what to do when sleeplessness hits: Take a pill. Better yet, take two and call the accountant in the morning. Because short of family tragedy, our worries, fears, and nightmares these days tend to cluster around financial security, or its lack. Which doesn’t make those emotions any less real to the sufferer. Why does western medicine believe the answer to all problems lies in the prescribing of drugs? The answer’s online: Look at the profits of any pharmaceutical company involved with sleep aids. For sheer wealth creation, only the oil companies can beat their stellar profits.
But if I’m having financial worries, one may wonder, why go to an acupuncturist? Shouldn’t I be out there earning more money to create more security, if that’s the problem? Makes sense to me. And yet wealth and serenity simply don’t correlate on any scale I’ve ever seen. It’s about energy.
Chinese Medicine sees fear (often the underlying issue) rooted in the energetics of the kidney. Rumination leans into the Spleen. Grief is the purview of the lungs, whereas Stress lies within the domain of the liver. And in case you’re wondering, Depression is connected to the heart.
Thus, we treat insomnia by treating its corresponding energetic organ.
Have a hard time getting to sleep? Our focus leans toward the heart.
Wake up at first dawn and can’t get back to sleep? We know what to do there.
Diarrhea? Constipation? No appetite? Constant hunger? Tendency to be cold, or hot, or listless? All these signs inform how we will proceed with treatment.
The beauty of Asian medicine is that by addressing the symptoms before us we treat not only the immediate issue, but the ‘root’ of the problem as well. This leads us to curing it once and for all, rather than masking the issue for five or ten years, when it can return with a vengeance.
Daniel at Blue Phoenix Wellness