- Q: Can Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs help with insomnia?
A:Yes! Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs can help drastically with insomnia. It is a natural and very effective way to improve the quality and duration of ones sleep.
- Q: Does it Hurt?
A: It depends on your practitioner! Different practitioners have different styles. This means some practitioner are aggressive and some are very gentle. It would be a good idea to call the office you are interested in visiting and ask if the practitioner can use a more gentle approach. At Balance Within, we use a more gentle approach without sacrificing the potency of the treatments. We believe this is very important for the comfort and quality of care for our patients.
- Q: How many treatments until I see a difference?
A: This really depends on a few factors. The longer the ailment has been going on, the more time and treatments the practitioner will need in order to create a change within your body. Improvements can potentially be seen anywhere from one treatments to 10-12 treatments with more severe conditions. To learn how many treatments it may take for you to start sleeping better please contact our office and ask to speak to one of our acupuncture specialists.
- Q: How many needles?
A: This also depends on your practitioner. Some practitioners use many needles during a treatment and others have a more simple approach with less needles. Outcomes between each style can be similar, it really depends on preference of the practitioner. At Balance Within we do use a more classical traditional approach to acupuncture which uses less needles while not sacrificing the potency of the treatments.
- Q: How does Acupuncture help insomnia?
A: Acupuncture helps in many different ways. To keep things simple for this answer acupuncture can help calm the nervous system. It help the autonomic nervous system shift from the sympathetic to parasympathetic functioning. Generally in today’s era we are all on the go. Stress levels are high, and there is a lot to do. When we are in this mode our mind and body is functioning in the sympathetic system which is our “fight or flight” stages. With regular acupuncture we can help the mind and body shift into a rest and relax state “parasympathetic” to help fall into a deeper state of sleep much sooner.
- Q: Placement of needles?
A: This can range depending on how the practitioner diagnoses what is causing the insomnia. The location of needles can range from some on the feet, legs, abdomen, hands, head and ears. Point selection of practitioners will sometimes vary depending on their style and diagnosis.
- Q: How long is each treatment?
A: Acupuncture treatments for insomnia generally range from 40 minutes to one hour. Depending on the severity of your insomnia and how long you have been dealing with it, your practitioner will adjust your time to fit your needs the best.
Other things that can cause insomnia or sleeping disorders:
- Changes in your medication can generally have a big impact on your sleeping patterns and taking them or changing them can have a large impact on your sleep. If you are taking any medication, please check with your primary care doctor to see if insomnia is one of the side effects.
- Caffeine is also a huge culprit in our inability to sleep. Especially in our society where we live in a “go go” environment. We find ourselves constantly needing a pick me up to help us push through our day. Well, if we do this on a daily basis this caffeine can build up in our system and eventually begin to affect our sleep. Now please keep in mind that everyone is different and has a different tolerance for caffeine, so what might happen to one person does not necessarily mean it will happen to another.
3.) Living a life with internal anxiety can dramatically affect your sleep. Many Americans today suffer from anxiety and again, what we usually turn to is taking a pill so we don’t have to feel it or deal with it anymore. Please note again, that this does nothing to resolve the issue. Taking anti anxiety medication simply masks the issue so you don’t have to feel it. However, as soon as you stop taking it the anxiety meds this issue arises again usually with a greater effect and in turn altering your sleep and causing chronic insomnia or sleeping issues.
