Did you know that Chinese Medicine treats insomnia?
It’s 4 a.m. The clock ticks, the moon glows, the dog snores and you just stare. As you turn and shift and stare some more, you know you shouldn’t be staring — you should be sleeping! The frustration that you cannot will yourself to sleep makes this 4:02 a.m. stare session all the more infuriating. And it’s hard to fall asleep when you’re infuriated.
So what do you do? Developing a regular sleep schedule, using your bed only for sleep and intimacy, and ditching electronics and caffeine well before bedtime is essential. Also eating an early and light dinner will help most of us to get batter sleep, as the Stomach is not busy digesting food.
Your bedroom should be dark, quiet, and a comfortable temperature. And how’s that bed? You may need to invest in a new mattress if you’re waking up sore, sleeping better when you’re away from home.
Pay a visit to your Chinese Medicine practitioner who can treat insomnia and help you sleep deep and restful.
The tips below might help you sleep easier. Here’s the advice of Eric Olson, co-director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn., and Harneet Walia, a doctor in the Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorders Center:
Get out of bed. When you lie awake in bed, you send yourself the wrong message. “You’re basically training your body not to sleep in bed, but to lie there and not sleep,” Walia says. “And your mind can get conditioned to that.” Olson puts it another way: “The longer we lie there and get frustrated in that environment, the more we come to anticipate it next time we’re there,” he says. “We come to associate the bedroom with not sleeping well.”
So if you’re unable to sleep for about a 15- or 20-minute stretch, slip into your bunny slippers and out of the room. Try something relaxing and non-stimulating. Listen to music. Read a book. Even consider cleaning the house or doing the dishes, Olson suggests. A bath might do the trick, because sleepiness can brew from the post-bath drop in body temperature. Whatever activity you choose, do it away from bed, and return when you’re feeling drowsy.
Try relaxation techniques. Call to arms whatever relaxation tips you know to combat this inappropriately timed alertness. Try your favorite calming (Savasana, anyone?). Meditate. Walia suggests progressive muscle relaxation: Working from your toes to your forehead, tightly tense each muscle group for five seconds, and then relax.
Ease anxiety. Sometimes the sleeplessness stems from worry. Your brain is on overdrive, thinking about your bank account and the big meeting tomorrow and your kid’s detention. For people who consistently have trouble “quieting the mind” at night, Olson suggests trying “to train your mind to think about those things at more appropriate times of the day.” Schedule a time each day –- say, between work and dinner -– to simply write a sentence or two about what’s worrying you.
Chinese Medicine has a lot to offer treating insomnia. Acupuncture and herbal treatments give the body and mind the calm we need to let go into restful sleep. Call us to make an appointment.
