“Acupuncture increases the night time levels of melatonin, enhances your sleep quality, extends sleep time and reduces anxiety”
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A good restorative night’s sleep is just a dream for almost a third of us.
Your doctor may tell you that insomnia is not considered to be a disease. But everyone with insomnia knows that it can to serious harm to physical and mental health.
In fact, according to Professor Matthew Walker, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, ‘Lack of sleep is, literally, killing us’.
Not enough shut-eye may affect the quality of life, reduce your concentration, lead to accidents behind the wheel and at work.
Until recently we knew little about how acupuncture improves sleep.
Recent studies have shed some light on the mechanism of action.
Canadian researchers studied 18 adults suffering from anxiety and insomnia. The volunteers received acupuncture for five weeks.
The study revealed that acupuncture increased the night time levels of the “sleep hormone” melatonin. At the end of the trial, anxiety levels were significantly lower and sleep efficiency had increased. The researchers found that both sleep quality and duration improved for those who took part in the study.
Acupuncture is a safe and effective way of treating pregnant women who suffer from insomnia.
In a recent study, acupuncture significantly improved the sleep quality in pregnant women.
The study’s participants had 10 sessions of acupuncture during a 3-week period. One of the ways how acupuncture helped was by increasing melatonin levels. Natural body’s melatonin crosses the placenta freely and plays an important role, not only in regulating sleep, but in a baby’s development as well. That’s why a good night’s rest is particularly important in pregnancy.
Long lasting insomnia can have a negative impact on brain centers responsible for sleep. Acupuncture for insomnia increases cerebral blood flow. As a result, it helps to restore brain regions that regulate your sleep.
Studies examining the brain using functional MRI discovered that Acupuncture retrains your brain to “switch off” the part of it responsible for anxiety and insomnia.
Journal Reference: JOVE
Sleeping pills provide sedation, not sleep.
The quality of sleep that you have when you’re on sedation doesn’t have the same restorative properties of natural sleep.
Insomnia has profound implications on your long-term cognitive health, increasing the risk of dementia. Prolonged sleep disruption can lead to the accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques, a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, thereby escalating the risk of cognitive decline. In light of these challenges, acupuncture emerges as a protective strategy, enhancing sleep.
Recent findings from a study conducted by in Taiwan underscore acupuncture’s efficacy. This extensive research, involving over 30,000 insomnia patients, revealed that those who received acupuncture treatments experienced a 46% reduction in dementia risk. This study highlights acupuncture’s dual role in not only improving your sleep patterns but also in safeguarding long-term cognitive function.
| Sleeping pills | Acupuncture |
|---|---|
| Cause sedation. Sedation is not sleep! | Restores your natural sleep. |
| Cause drowsiness, which may affect driving. Use of sleeping pills associated with significantly increased risk of death. | Improves concentration, enhances memory, interferes with the mechanism of stress. Causes no undesirable sedation. |
| Does not treat the underlying cause. | May treat the underlying cause. |
| Although the response is immediate, the benefits are short-term only. The sleeping pills stop working when you stop taking them. | The response is somewhat slower than the sleeping pills, but the positive effects are sustained much longer. |
| Addictive. Due to the addictive properties, the sleeping pills are normally only effective in the first two weeks you take them. They are only good for short-term relief. | Acupuncture is helpful both short and long term. |
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