Insomnia & Natural Sleep Aids
Taking over the counter or prescription medicines to aid with sleep can have a lot of side affects and problems for when you are awake. Using natural sleep aids like acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can assist you in re-balancing the root causes of these sleep issues. Natural sleep aids from the pharmacy of Chinese Herbal Medicine addresses the root causes and aids in a good nights sleep, hence in many cases removing the need for prescription sleep aids.
It is during sleep that the body performs many repair functions. Growth hormone is released in it’s highest amounts when we first enter deep sleep, this hormone facilitates growth, cell reproduction and regeneration, a key signal for repair functions to begin.
Types of Insomnia and Sleeping Issues
- The inability or difficulty falling asleep
- Waking in the night and not going back to sleep
- Waking often in the night
- Restless sleep
- Disturbing or vivid dreaming
- Nightmares
- Not waking rested
- Night sweats.
Recent research went looking to find why we would evolve to need such deep sleep, when sleeping is such a dangerous activity in the wilds of the African Savannah. What is so important to the brain, well they found a waste removal system in operation during our sleep. It is during sleep that our now large brain receives a vacuuming and the waste products from the days activities are removed. Unlike the body whose vacuuming takes place when we are moving around (called our lymphatic system) the brain can only achieve this during sleep. When we sleep poorly our head is foggy and our thinking is less sharp. The brain is clogged with waste products.
How Lack Of Sleep Affects Your Health
Chinese Medicine Practitioners also know that to assist someone in healing, one must address sleep issues. In your consultation you will be asked many specific questions about your sleep pattern. For example, waking at specific times, like between 1-3 am is significant. This can mean disturbances in the flow of energy in the liver meridian, this body system is not entering it’s rest and repair mode. The practitioner will look for causes of this disturbances and how to support you in re-balancing this system.
If you are finding that you cannot sleep through the night without the help of over the counter or prescription medicines and would prefer to use more natural sleep aids or if you are having difficulty getting to sleep, or any of the other listed sleeping issues then contact us and we can help you sleep more soundly and wake up refreshed ready to start your day.