Insomnia is a common medical sleeping disorder that has already affected over 64 million Americans and millions of other people worldwide. Based on a 2007 report from the United States Department of Health Services, it contained that more than one-third of adults have insomnia, of which 41% are women. People suffering from insomnia usually feels over-fatigued, unrefreshed and with poor focus and out of coordination during the day. The lack of sleep can strip a person with energy which will entirely affect his moods, health, performance and productivity. Daytime fatigue is a common manifestation of insomnia, which commonly leads to irritability, anxiety, and depression, loss of concentration, gastro-intestinal problems, headaches, and increased errors in tasks. It is a common medical complaint that has an insurmountable adverse effect towards a person’s health and well-being. Western medicine has it that insomnia is stress-related that can be triggered by depression, anxiety, medications, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, or just by eating too much during the evening, erratic work schedule, and worst could be a symptom of a more serious underlying health problem. In western medicine, insomnia or any sleeping disorder is just a state of the mind stressing that the organ that is most related to the mind is the heart, which is deemed as the most affected organ by insomnia. If the heart is at the pink of health, the mind will be at ease and sleep will be sound, however, if there is something wrong with heart of if it is bothered by other internal factors in the body, the mind is boggled thereby affecting sleep. Treatment usually imposed by western medical practitioners would usually involve making changes in sleeping schedule, light therapy, relaxation and behavioral therapy or medications for more serious cases. However, traditional Chinese medicine has a different approach towards insomnia. The seven major factors that could result to insomnia, based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, include overexertion, overwork, worries, resentment, irritation and other anger-related emotions, poor diet, constitutional weakness, childbirth, and internal body heat. In Chinese medicine, insomnia is first differentiated whether the condition is caused by an excess or by a deficiency. Once the differentiation of patterns is determined, then a specific treatment can now be concocted. Although, each treatment will have the same goal of calming the mind of the patient, which is definitely the main cause of the condition, a major part of the treatment regimen will focus on the specific pattern of the insomnia. Acupuncture, which has been proven effective in calming the mind and revitalizing the body’s hormones to natural levels, can treat the type of insomnia that is characterized by restless sleep with nightmares, dizziness, irritability, and headaches. Acupuncture can also be effective in treating insomnia that involves poor appetite, palpitations, poor memory, anxiety, excessive dreaming, dry eyes, or that type wherein the patient talks and walks while asleep. Insomnia comes in different types, and for each type is a different treatment. Acupuncture will help restore the body’s energy to its natural flow and thus helping the body heal itself as it returns to its natural rhythm and in the process correct other underlying problems to prevent insomnia from re-occurring.
