Understanding Insomnia With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Do you wonder why you wake up at the same time every night? Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) might be able to provide some insight! And acupuncture can help treat insomnia as well.

Every two hours our energy flows through different pathways in our bodies which we can look at by the Chinese medicine clock. If the energy is unbalanced in a certain meridian, we may have trouble sleeping during the corresponding time.

The most common time for people to experience sleep disturbances seems to be between 1:00 am and 3:00 am. This is the time associated with the Liver. According to TCM the Liver is the organ responsible for the free flow of Qi in the body. An irregular flow of Qi can be disruptive to the body in many ways both mentally and physically. And it can affect our sleep. Do you know what has the biggest effect on the Liver? Stress. I have found in practice that stress will cause insomnia in two main ways, the first, having difficulty turning off the brain, causing sleep to take some time to achieve. The second, waking sometime during the Liver hours, between 1 and 3 am. It’s not always easy to take all the stresses out of life, but with acupuncture we can treat the Liver which can help with more peaceful sleep.

The other common time to experience sleep disturbances is during the Lung time between 3:00 am and 5:00 am. The emotion that can affect the flow of qi during this time is grief. Years ago when I was grieving the loss of a relationship I would wake up at 4:00 every morning and was unable to go back to sleep. I tossed and turned and couldn’t quiet my mind. (Note that I am not a morning person, sleep typically comes easily to me, and I sleep heavily in the early morning hours. I’m a night owl, what can I say?) A person who is grieving or who has some unresolved sadness may experience insomnia during these hours of the day.

Other than stress and emotions affecting sleep, insomnia can be due to hormonal imbalances, physical discomfort, PTSD, and several body shifts. Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help address most to give you a more peaceful and restful night.

For an easy wind-down exercise, check out this post I wrote a couple years ago.