Acupuncture for Insomnia
Find out more about acupuncture treatment for insomnia in Morden
We’ve all been there at some point haven’t we? Staring at the ceiling at god knows what time, willing yourself to fall asleep so you get at least a couple of hours rest before the alarm goes off!
The thing is, while most of us will have had the odd night of failing to get to sleep, it’s usually an isolated occurrence. However, if you suffer from insomnia regularly, it can have a lasting impact on your everyday life.
You might find it hard to get to sleep, wake up multiple times in the night or wake too early and then have trouble backing back to sleep. All this means you feel tired on waking up and continue to feel tired throughout the day, maybe feeling irritable or unable to concentrate, only for the cycle to repeat again.
General advice for insomnia usually revolves around managing sleep routines, staying away from stimulants before bed etc, or sometimes tablets to help you sleep, but often that doesn’t really do the trick.
What Happens During an Acupuncture Treatment for Insomnia?
There have been a few studies that support the effectiveness of acupuncture for insomnia (you can check out this factsheet if you’re interested), and it is generally thought that acupuncture is great for regulating the nervous system and helping the body produce chemicals and hormones which help to regulate sleep.
As a traditional acupuncturist though, I would be looking more holistically at everything that’s going on with you…Traditional Chinese Medicine views the mind and body as connected (inseparable really), so my treatment principles will very much be aiming to regulate the body and mind, but also identifying what underlying issue might be causing the problem - maybe it’s something energetic that is agitating the mind when it should be resting, or maybe it’s a deficiency in some aspect of your system which means your mind isn’t able to settle and rest at night.
When you come in for your first treatment, we’ll do an initial assessment that covers your main symptoms as well as medical history, lifestyle etc (for insomnia patients this lifestyle conversation is quite helpful as we can look at this together and figure out what’s good and what’s not in terms of getting you sleeping better). I might also do some physical checks including pulse and tongue diagnosis, to determine the underlying TCM pattern.
By identifying which pattern or combination of patterns is present, I can then tailor your acupuncture treatment to your particular case. A typical treatment could potentially use needles at various key points on the back, in the arms and the legs to encourage the flow of Qi around the body. As I use a number of different tools, I might also use other tools or techniques like cupping, moxa or gentle stretching in combination with acupuncture needles.
The treatment itself usually lasts 20 - 30 mins while you relax on the table, and I’ll check on you periodically to see how you’re doing and maybe make some adjustments. Most people feel pretty relaxed during treatment, and depending on how your body reacts you might feel immediate pain relief in the first session, but sometimes it takes a while to notice a change, especially if your pain is especially chronic, but you will see gradual improvement over several sessions.
How many treatments you’ll need depends on a number of factors - how long you’ve had the problem, the severity of it, and self-care as part of the overall approach. Everyone responds differently, but we’ll map out a treatment plan for you during your first session so you can understand how many treatments you might need, and also if you need to come more frequently for treatment in the first week or two.
Now, I understand that someone sticking needles into you might be a daunting idea, but if you need to chat through any aspect of treatment or want to find out more, then just get in touch, or even come in for a free consultation/chat about your symptoms and we can see how I can help!
To contact me, phone 0208 051 7743 or email info@empoweracupuncture.co.uk
Alternatively, you can book online using the button below:
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