In Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, good solid sleep primarily relies on a good supply and quality of the resources: Blood + Yin.
In patterns of Blood deficiency you may fall asleep easily but wake in the night multiple times, be a light sleeper, toss + turn or have vivid dreams. Often waking wondering why you feel like you haven’t slept even if you were ‘asleep’ most of the night.
In patterns of Yin deficiency, you may have trouble getting to sleep and calming your mind, feeling ‘tired and wired’ at night. You may wake up in the night with hot sweats or even to urinate in the night then unable to return back to sleep. This is a common pattern in menopause.
There is also another factor to consider… Liver Qi stagnation. In these patterns, there is often a significant stress component, either emotional/mental or even dietary/lifestyle factors such as improper eating, stimulants such as caffeine and unmanaged stress. You may be waking between 1am-3am and not knowing why you’re awake or your brain starts stressing about things. This points towards Liver Qi stagnation and first steps to addressing this are making sure your blood sugar is balanced and you’re eating enough nutrition in the day, you aren’t consuming alcohol or excess caffeine, and you have regulated emotional health (e.g. letting go of the day before properly).
Sleep is super important as it’s a time to replenish and repair. These are the main patterns seen in Chinese medicine (there are a few others too) that we can address with herbal medicine + acupuncture, but there are a few things you can do now to help improve your sleep at home:
Wake up and go to bed at similar times each day. Address your sleep hygiene.
Get some sunlight on your face in the mornings. Help regulate your circadian rhythm. Also avoid looking at artificial lights at night.
Manage your stress better… this may look like exercising, writing lists, delegating tasks, allocating time to deal with the stuff instead of avoiding, cut back on responsibilities were possible until you are able to handle it better, get acupuncture to help you adapt to stress better.
Cut out coffee and alcohol.
Consider a decent magnesium supplement before bed, the glycinate form is best. (As always, practitioner only and practitioner recommended brands are going to be better too.)
Don’t over-DO, eat enough nourishing foods, slow down and rest. This one is highly related to supporting Blood + Yin.
If you’re waking in the night to urinate, avoid drinking too much before bed.
Seek help if it is pain related that is waking you up.
There are some great Chinese Herbal Medicine formulas I like to use for sleep issues, and it will always depend on the person. But in saying this, you will have to do the lifestyle work too... If you are having issues with decent sleep it is your body telling you something, and that needs to be addressed!
There are also certain Acupuncture points and combinations that can be great. Which as always, depends on the individual! But these are a few acupressure points you can try massaging:
Anmian ('Peaceful Sleep')- this point is located behind your ears just on the posterior edge of the mastoid process. This point, as the name suggests, promotes sleep.
PC6 ('Inner Pass') - this point is located 3 finger-breadths from the wrist crease in the midline. Best for calming the mind when there is stress.
HT7 ('Spirit Gate') - this point is located on the inside of the wrist crease at the edge of the pinky finger. This point is great for calming the mind.
Yintang ('Hall of Impression') - located between the eyebrows. This point calms the mind.
LR3 ('Great Rushing') - this is located between the 1st + 2nd toes. This one is best when there is 'Liver Qi stagnation' or stress.
SP6 ('Three Yin Intersection') - located 4 finger-breadths above the medial ankle bone, on the inner edge of the shin bone. This is a great tonifying point for Blood + Yin but also calms the mind.
Hope this helps you get some deeper quality solid sleep!!
Dr Alexandra x
Acupuncturist + Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner
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