Can Acupuncture Help You Sleep?

Poor sleep is a fairly common condition, thought to affect around 1 in 3 people in the UK.

Insomnia is not just difficulty falling asleep, but also, difficulty maintaining sleep, waking up few times at night, non-refreshing sleep, dream disturbed sleep all this can have a big impact on all aspects of your life.

For example, you might struggle to stay focused at work, reducing your productivity. It might also impact your mental health. In some cases, you might become more likely to develop conditions like depression or anxiety. Long-term insomnia has been also linked to cardiovascular disease and infertility or difficulty conceiving. For this reason, you should try to improve the quality of your sleep. However, this can be easier said than done.

Thankfully, you might be able to use acupuncture to help you get better sleep. Let’s look at how this works.

Acupuncture Can Help You Relax

Acupuncture has been used to help promote good sleep for thousands of years I find that many of my patients fall asleep in my clinic during treatment.

During acupuncture treatment certain acupuncture points are being stimulated, which will affect the area of the brain that is known to reduce sensitivity to pain and stress as well as promoting relaxation and deactivating the ‘analytical ‘brain, which is responsible for insomnia and anxiety.

It is also difficult to have a good night sleep if you are anxious, your mind might struggle to get into a relaxed state, which you need before you can go to sleep. For this reason, anxiety has been known to exacerbate sleeping issues.

Thankfully, you will be able to use acupuncture to provide some relief. Acupuncture has been found to reduce sympathetic nervous system activity and to regulate the brains mood chemistry so it does increase relaxation.

Stimulate Melatonin Production

One of the most important chemicals in your brain is Melatonin. This helps you regulate your sleep-wake cycle. If you don’t have enough Melatonin, your body won’t get the signals that it’s time to go to sleep. For this reason, a shortage of Melatonin has been linked to insomnia.

Acupuncture sessions have been shown to increase the amount of Melatonin that your brain produces. This can help you maintain a better sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin is also required for healthy follicle development so if you are trying to conceive this could be another reason to try acupuncture.

Manage The Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea

For some people, sleep apnea can have a big impact on their sleep quality. This condition has been linked to snoring and might cause you to wake frequently during the night. Because your sleep cycle is disturbed, you might be drowsier during the day. If not managed correctly, this can cause significant health problems.

For this reason, you should contact your doctor if you believe that sleep apnea could be an issue. Once you are diagnosed, you might want to get acupuncture more frequently. This treatment can help you manage the effects of sleep apnea better.

Conclusion

Each day millions of people around the world are affected by poor sleep. However, you don’t need to put up with a lack of sleep. As shown above there is a range of ways that acupuncture will be able to help you overcome these problems and is safe to combine with conventional medications for insomnia. So make sure to book a session today and improve your sleep quality.