Factors causing sleep problems
Sleep can be a great pleasure or enormous frustration. American Sleep Association estimates most healthy adults need about 8 hours of sleep nightly to work their best.
In 2017, SleepScore Labs published the most significant consumer sleeping study in history, demonstrating that few individuals get the minimum amount of rest they require to remain healthy. Fortunately, there are lots of all-natural remedies that will assist you to sleep better at night with a few of these remedies being acupuncture.
The Great British Sleep Survey was undertaken between March 2010 and June 2012. The results were equally exciting and worrying. The report shared physical and mental factors that keep us awake at night.
Physical factors were led with bodily distress affecting 67 percent of those 20,000 respondents across the United Kingdom. Factors include waking from sleep with an urge to go to the bathroom or aches and pains.
Mental factors were dominated by the ‘racing mind’ as the primary cause of insomnia; the consequences strengthening the function thoughts have in disturbing and affecting sleep. 82% of the people who responded listed being ‘concerned about tomorrow and the day’s events’ at the top of their list.
Sleep disorders impact on health
Impact of Inadequate Sleep
Lack of sleep not only defeats our attempt to get some much-needed rest but has both physical and psychological consequences for your health that could be detrimental.
Poor sleepers are:
Seven times more likely to feel helpless
5 Times more likely to feel lonely
3 Times more likely to fight
Twice as likely to suffer from exhaustion
Twice as likely to have relationship issues
Twice as likely to sulk from low mood
Twice as likely to be unproductive in the office
Day time difficulties affecting both men and women because of poor sleep have been decreased energy levels, relationship difficulties, and bad moods.
See: Sleeping on the left side health benefits
Age and Sleep relationship
As we get older, our sleep is interrupted more, and the quality of sleep reduces. Forty-nine percent more people over age 60 suffer from long term sleep problems than those in their 20s.
As we age, however, it is different scenarios that prevent us from sleeping well; up to middle age, it is kids and sound, whereas when we get older, it becomes age-associated bodily distress.
See: Natural Home Sleep Remedies
Sleeping Pills
The survey showed there are individuals of all ages who take sleeping pills; the poll indicated they needn’t. 42% of those people that consume sleeping pills have had sleep problems for more than 11 decades or more.
What can be concluded from this data is that sleeping pills aren’t effective in treating sleep disorders. According to NICE guidelines, many men and women that are prescribed should not have been in the first place.
Results also show those who use sleeping pills aren’t as healthy as people who don’t. They often suffer from poor general wellbeing and experience greater feelings of helplessness, loneliness, and a sense of being out of control:
85 percent more likely to feel helplessness
74 percent more likely to feel alone
49 percent more likely to think their sleep is out of control
These results show that there’s a need for alternative sleep options to be made more available to the general public.
Acupuncture for sleep apnea
In some respects, there is an excellent ‘missing the point’ when it comes to traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. With an average of 2.3 million acupuncture treatments completed annually, traditional acupuncture is among the most common alternative/complementary therapies practiced in the United Kingdom. Yet statistics show that 1 in 5 people would just consider acupuncture for sleep difficulties as a last resort.
Instead of acupuncture being the last resort, it should be regarded as one of the first strategies to help with sleep issues. It’s completely drug-free and affects the physical, psychological, emotional, and psychological aspects of sleep disorders.
Acupuncture, in its purest form, is proven to stimulate the central nervous system allowing the release of neurochemicals, which lead to biochemical changes in the body, thereby promoting both physical and psychological wellbeing. Stimulation of specific acupuncture points affects regions of the brain that are known to decrease sensitivity to pain and anxiety in addition to encouraging relaxation and deactivating the’analytical mind’ that is responsible for the stress and ‘racing mind’ issues identified from the terrific British Sleep Survey.
Acupuncture pressure points for sleep
Acupuncture (and acupressure) pressure points for sleep
While acupuncture, as its name implies, involves firming the skin at particular points, acupressure relies on applying pressure to accomplish similar effects. Stimulating pressure points concerning comfort and stress relief might help promote healthy sleep.
The ear
Anmien is a pressure point located right above your jaw, and behind your ear, and towards the region just before your neck. This is supposed to help promote calm, relaxing sleep. You will know when you have found the ideal place to apply pressure with your index and fundamental finger, as they will break in a tender melancholy in the specified location. Hold this position for as much as twenty minutes for beneficial outcomes. The pressure used should be strong enough that you recognize, but not be uncomfortable or hard to keep.
The wrist
The internal gate, Neiguan, can be highly effective when used to relieve insomnia. This pressure point is supposed to relax the soul and calm an over-active mind. Between your joints, this place is hollow and is the proper position. There are other pressure points located in the creases of your wrists if you follow down out of your small finger, or thumb. Hence, the wrist is a great area that can aid with sleep.
The ball of the foot
Below the ball of your foot is a pressure point that could help you unwind and sleep easily. You can use your thumb to apply pressure and gently massage this area until you feel really calm and restful.
Above the feet
Use your index finger to massage the tip, which could be found three thumb hints in width up your foot, from the region between your big toe and the next fur along. Sleep should eventually follow.
Acupuncture is a good method of attaining sleep naturally, without needing to resort to expensive treatments or tablets. It is easy for qualified acupuncturists to work on the pressure points that encourage sleep on your own.
Acupuncture research studies for sleep disorders
How Acupuncture Promotes Better Quality Sleep
The Center for Disease Control listed sleep deprivation to be a public health epidemic in 2004. Does that sound a little extreme? Not when you consider the real effect of sleep deprivation. Chronic sleep loss takes a significant toll on your body – both indoors and out. We see the brief phrases signs of sleep deprivation shown every morning in the mirror after a restless or sleepless night. Dull complexion. Dry skin. Bags and dark circles under our eyes.
1. In 2013, university research commissioned by Estee Lauder was the first to link inadequate sleep with more significant signs of skin aging and slower healing from many different environmental stressors, such as skin barrier disruption or ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
We feel that, too. Low energy. Fatigue. Stress and anxiety. Worrying. Will I be able to sleep tonight? Will I resort to over the counter meds or prescription sleeping medicines?
While sleep medications may help manage insomnia and other sleep disorders in the short term, they’re not suggested for long-term use. Sleep drugs can be emotionally and physically addictive and include some serious potential side effects and health risks.
Researchers found that individuals taking certain over-the-counter and prescribed sleep drugs were nearly five times more likely to die within the 2.5-year study, compared with people who did not take sleep medication.
That’s a reasonably substantial risk. It is no wonder many are dumping their tablets and turning to alternative therapies in their quest to get a fantastic night’s sleep.
2. When we examine the research based on acupuncture, it tells a reasonably positive story. In February 2018, a clinical trial study published by researchers at the prestigious Zhejiang Chinese Medical University found acupuncture to be more successful than certain drug types like those routinely prescribed for treating insomnia.
While the sample sizes in the study were relatively small for these controlled clinical trials, Both strongly indicate acupuncture since it is an effective treatment system. The average age of the clinical subjects was around 50 – 53 years old. Patients in the treatment group underwent a mixture of conventional body design acupuncture and auriculotherapy to trigger significant points in the ear region.
3. Another study conducted by Yuexiu District Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine researchers also discovered acupuncture more effective than benzodiazepine type medications.
Evidence-based research demonstrates acupuncture to be effective in treating sleep disorders. Other research shows that acupuncture (or acupressure related processes by way of instance the acUtreat ear seed kits) to be significantly more potent than antipsychotic medication or no therapy.
4. Research has shown that Acupuncture therapy may be of benefit in people with insomnia by:
– Increasing nocturnal endogenous melatonin secretion (ref: Spence et al. 2004)
– Increasing the nitric oxide synthase reactions and nitric oxide amount, promoting healthy function of brain tissues, which might help to regulate sleep (ref: Gao et al. 2007)
– Stimulating opioid (particularly b-endorphin) production and µ-opioid receptor activity (ref: Cheng et al. 2009)
increasing cerebral blood circulation (Yan 2010)
– Regulating neurotransmitters levels or their modulators such as serotonin, GABA and neuropeptide Y, noradrenaline, dopamine, hence modifying the brain’s mood chemistry to help to improve relaxation and decrease tension (ref: Lee 2009b; Samuels 2008; Zhou 2008)
– lowering sympathetic nervous system activity, increasing relaxation (ref: Lee 2009a)
Summary
Acupuncture may be safely combined with traditional medical treatments for sleep problems, like benzodiazepines, helping to reduce their side effects and increase their beneficial effects (Cao et al. 2009). Based on this sort of evidence, which shows acupuncture to be as effective as existing conventional drugs but with no side effects, it needs to be regarded as one of the vital therapeutic options in treating sleep problems as opposed to one the past.
