During an acupuncture consultation it is routine to ask about how the patient sleeps and it never ceases to surprise me how many people do not have peaceful, restful sleep. Perhaps it is a sign of the times and the stressful society that we live in.

Adequate rest is essential for our well being as it allows time for the body to recuperate and revitalise ready for the following day. Not enough sleep can be a cause for future illness. There are many factors that can cause sleeping problems and I will mention the main ones here, hinging around the theory of Chinese Medicine.

There may be an obvious causative factor leading to poor sleep such as drinking too much coffee late at night or too much visual stimulation from video games or the TV. In these cases it is easy to rectify the situation. Muscular pain can also lead to sleeping problems if the pain is worse at night. In other cases the cause is not so obvious and a detailed consultation is needed to produce an accurate diagnosis.

The term 'insomnia' covers a number of different problems such as inability to fall asleep easily, waking up during the night, sleeping restlessly, waking up early in the morning and dream-disturbed sleep.

(a) Heat

Excessive heat in the body can cause sleeping problems. Heat is said to 'agitate the spirit – the ‘Shen’', in Chinese Medicine. We have all experienced this during hot days in summer, perhaps being stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway, or being in a crowded bus. During the night our 'spirit' or 'Shen ' resides in the Blood of the Heart. Heat can disturb the 'spirit' and lead to insomnia. This heat can come from many sources such as the heat often associated with menopause, or the heat from a viral illness. Identifying the source of heat is the key to treatment.

(b) Deficiency of Heart Blood

This is a Chinese medicine diagnosis and needs a note of explanation. As mentioned above, the spirit is said to reside in the Heart Blood during the night. The Heart Blood acts as an 'anchor' for the spirit, to prevent it from wandering around at night. If the 'anchor' is not strong enough then the spirit is free to roam and this results in sleeping difficulties. In this case acupuncture aims to strengthen the Heart Blood and give the spirit a stable residence at night. This may sound confusing, but the Chinese have a very different way of looking at the body compared with ourselves in the West. Their knowledge is the accumulation of over 2000 years of observation and clinical application.

(c) Disturbed Shen

In the introduction I mentioned about excessive visual stimulation leading to sleeping problems. If our mind (the Shen - the same word which is used for 'spirit') is overactive then sleeping problems can occur. This can happen if our lives are full of mental activities & processes and we find it difficult to switch off at night. Our mind races and sleep does not come easily.

Sleep problems can also develop from shift work. I recently treated a patient who had difficulty sleeping after changing his job. He used to do shift work and then changed to a regular day job and that was when his sleeping difficulties started. After five acupuncture treatments he was back to a normal sleep pattern.