Written by Eduardo Velasco Valido AP, LAc
Edited by Meg Frodel AP, LAc, HHC
Are you struggling with sleepless nights and constant anxiety? If so, you’re not alone, 12% of Americans are diagnosed with chronic insomnia and 19% of Americans have anxiety disorders.. Many people are looking for natural ways to find relief. Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture have been used for centuries to promote relaxation and improve sleep. In this blog post, we’ll explore how these holistic approaches can help you overcome insomnia and anxiety, allowing you to enjoy a life with more energy and clear and calm mind.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Be Your Best Help
Traditional Chinese Medicine has been treating insomnia and anxiety symptoms for hundreds of years.
In Chinese medicine, sleep disorders are usually related to the health of the heart, like heart yin deficiency, heart fire or heart blood stasis. And anxiety disorders usually are related to the heart and the liver, with patterns like "liver qi stagnation".
If your heart is clean, pumping blood without problems you should have a restful sleep, and if your Liver is in balance, you should not have emotional imbalances.
What is Insomnia?
"Insomnia" is a sleep disorder that covers a number of different problems; incapacity to fall asleep, difficulty stay asleep, waking up during the night, unrestful sleep, disturbing dreams... As a result, people with Insomnia often feel tired during the day and may have difficulty concentrating. Insomnia can be long-term (chronic insomnia) or short-term (acute).
The sleep quality depends on the state of the Mind (Shen in TCM)
Many different things can cause Insomnia, including stress, anxiety, medications, poor diet, and changes in sleep patterns. Insomnia can affect your energy, but it can also affect your mental health and cause mood disorders and reduces quality of life.
Sleep disorders like Insomnia reduce a person's sleep quality of life. We treat Insomnia with lifestyle changes, such as sleeping in a dark room and avoiding caffeine before bed. Chinese herbs can also be a helpful treatment of Insomnia.
There are only two general types of Insomnia, but you might've heard about other variations.
Two Types of Insomnia
Primary Insomnia: means that any health condition or problems don't cause your sleeping problems.
Secondary Insomnia: You have difficulty sleeping because of conditions like asthma, cancer, depression, medications that you take, or using any substances like alcohol.
Why Insomnia is bad for you?
Our body need a good sleep quality to regenerate.
Chronic insomnia can lead to several health risks and negative impacts on overall well-being, including:
Cognitive Impairment: Difficulty with concentration, memory, and decision-making.
Mental Disorders: Increased risk of anxiety, depression, and mood disorders.
Cardiovascular Problems: Higher risk of hypertension, heart disease, and stroke.
Immune System Weakening: Reduced ability to fight off infections and illnesses.
Metabolic Issues: Greater likelihood of weight gain, obesity, and diabetes.
Accidents: Increased chances of accidents due to impaired alertness and coordination.
Decreased Quality of Life: Overall impact on daily functioning, relationships, and job performance.
The treatment of insomnia is important to mitigate these risks and improve long-term health.
Treatment of insomnia: Chinese Medicine for Insomnia and Anxiety
1.- Western Medicine:
The most common drug to treat Insomnia are Benzodiazepines, that work by enhancing the effect of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that reduces neuronal activity.
Long-term use of benzodiazepines can lead to several potential side effects, including:
Tolerance: Over time, individuals may require higher doses to achieve the same effects, leading to increased use.
Dependence: Prolonged use can result in physical and psychological dependence, making it difficult to stop without withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal Symptoms: Abruptly discontinuing use can lead to anxiety, insomnia, tremors, and, in severe cases, seizures.
Cognitive Impairment: Long-term use may affect memory, attention, and overall cognitive function, particularly in older adults.
Sedation: Persistent drowsiness and fatigue can interfere with daily activities and overall quality of life.
Mood Changes: Some individuals may experience increased anxiety, depression, or irritability.
Physical Health Risks: Increased risk of falls and related injuries, especially in elderly patients.
Paradoxical Reactions: In some cases, benzodiazepines can cause increased anxiety or agitation instead of relief.
2.- Traditional Chinese Medicine
In Chinese medicine, the treatment of insomnia is focused in the treatment of the Heart. Instead of forcing the brain to shot down, TCM look for the origin of the sleep disturbance, which usually is the heart.
In TCM, if the Heart is congested or weak, the brain will never shot down, and the patient for suer will have sleep issues.
Traditional Chinese Medicine promote sleep quality with the help of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine, with the aim of cleaning arteries and producing more blood.
Instead of feel groggy or under the effect of a drug, Chinese herbal medicines goal is to allow your body to get a real natural and deep restful sleep.
Herbal Medicine
Chinese Herbal Medicines will focus on cleaning the arteries, to nourish blood and yin, to clear heat from the heart and to tonify the heart.
Herbal formulas will be customized to match the special characteristics of the insomnia patients.
Most common herbs tha improve sleep quality are suan zao ren, bai zi ren, yan hu suo, long gu, yuan zhi, etc.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture can help balance the vagus nerve and promote deep, restful sleep in several ways:
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Acupuncture activates points that are connected to the vagus nerve, which regulates the parasympathetic nervous system. This system promotes relaxation and recovery, counteracting the stress response.
Reducing Stress Response: By stimulating the vagus nerve, acupuncture helps lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and promotes the release of relaxation-inducing neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and GABA.
Enhancing Heart Rate Variability: Acupuncture can improve heart rate variability, a sign of a well-functioning vagus nerve. This indicates better emotional regulation and relaxation, leading to improved sleep quality.
Promoting Digestive Health: The vagus nerve plays a role in digestion, and acupuncture can help alleviate gastrointestinal issues. A healthy digestive system can contribute to better overall relaxation and sleep.
Restoring Balance: Acupuncture aims to restore overall balance in the body’s energy (Qi), which also supports the vagus nerve’s function, enhancing feelings of calm and well-being.
5 Tips in the Treatment of Insomnia:
If you have trouble sleeping and you are in the way of curing insomnia, in addition of taking Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, follow this tips:
1.- Avoid Coffee, black tea, green tea or any other stimulants:
If you can't sleep at night, you should not drink any caffeinated drinks. Insomnia patients usually has the nerve system too exited, and any stimulus will increase sleep disturbance. You need to calm down, no more stimulation.
2.- You need physical activity:
If you have very comfortable life, driving to go everywhere, working in front of a computer, enjoying your sofa, etc... it would be normal that your body suffers insomnia. You need to get tired so your body and mind fall asleep easily.
Ideally practice exercise in the morning or at least 3-4 hours before going to bed.
3.- You need to see the sun:
We need to enjoy time outside, it is very unhealthy to spend your whole life under a roof without seeing the sun's light. It is essential to regulate our Circadian Rhythm and to increase melatonin production.
4.- Limit screen time:
It is important that at least a few hours before going to stop watching your phone, tablets, computer, tv, etc. Exposure to blue light before bedtime can lead to difficulties falling asleep. It is better to switch off your electronic devices and just read a normal book before bed. But if you need to watch your phone or tablet, can be better to use some blue light blocking glasses.
5.- Avoid heavy dinners:
For better sleep, it's you should eat lighter dinners and to finish eating at least a few hours before bedtime.
Digesting heavy dinners takes a lot of energy from the body, reducing the capacity to have a deep rest. Also if you get bloated or acid reflux after eating it would make it even harder to relax.
Large meals can cause spikes and drops in blood sugar levels, improving the chances of waking you up in the middle of the night.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural human emotion that most people will experience to some extent as a typical reaction to stress. However, it becomes problematic when it consistently disrupts daily life, is irrational, excessively prolonged, or disproportionate to the triggering factor. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), anxiety is often linked to heart disorders and instability of the Shen. The Shen can become easily agitated by heat and is prone to instability if the Heart Qi, Yin, or blood is weakened.
Treatment of Anxiety
1.- Western Medicine:
In Western medicine Anxiety may be due to hyperthyroidism, hypoglycemia, neurosis, premenstrual syndrome, menopause, stress, PTSD, etc.
Usually the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder is treated with anxiolytic and tranquilizer drugs, most common benzodiazepines. If they are necessary they can be very useful, but so often they are over prescribed by health professionals.
Prolonged use of benzodiazepines have many unpleasant adverse reactions and severe withdrawal symptoms, like anxiety, hallucinations, psychiatric disorders, hypersensitivity, seizures, paranoid delusions, tremors, insomnia, and gastrointestinal upset. Because they are widely prescribed, there is controversy on the long term clinical efficacy.
2.- Traditional Chinese Medicine:
In TCM, anxiety disorders are often related to unbalances on Liver and Heart organs. In Chinese medicine emotional imbalances are reflexion of internal organ imbalances, and Chinese medicine practitioner treat these imbalances with a combination of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, usually with high clinical efficacy.
Herbal Formulas:
Chinese herbal medicine focuses on treating the person rather than the symptoms, that is why many patients love its effect.
Usually patients who need treatment for anxiety have a chronic condition and should be treated for a few months to achieve success.
The practitioner should create a customized herbal formula focused on the syndrome differentiation, that covers the specific etiology of the patient. Herbal remedies would be prescribed to treat Heart Qi deficiency, Heart Blood deficiency, Phlegm Heat, etc.
The proper treatment should include weekly modifications of the Chinese herbal formula, to adapt to the evolution of the patient in their journey of recovery.
In several randomized controlled trials (RCTs), Xiao Yao San had positive curative effects on anxiety disorder. However, for more efficacy is necessary to customized the formula to much the specific necessities of every patient.
Acupuncture:
Acupuncture is widely used in clinical treatment of anxiety.
In many randomized controlled trials like this one we can see that the acupuncture group exhibited a sustained and relatively stable improvement in sleep assessment parameters and reduced anxiety and depression scores compared to the sham acupuncture group, which was consistent with the conclusion of previous studies.
Acupuncture can reduce anxiety by:
Modulating Neurotransmitters: It promotes the release of calming neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA, which help to alleviate anxiety.
Balancing Hormones: Acupuncture can lower stress hormones like cortisol, promoting relaxation and reducing stress.
Enhancing Relaxation: It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, encouraging a state of calm and restfulness.
Regulating Energy Flow: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture restores balance to the body's energy (Qi), supporting emotional well-being.
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