Insomnia

Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning.  Poor sleep can be caused by many things including stress or irregular sleep patterns, and can result in poor concentration and irritability. It's a common problem, which can seriously effect our quality of life, and thought to regularly affect around one in every three people in the UK.  Read more

With insomnia, you may find it difficult to fall asleep, lie awake for long periods at night, wake up several times during the night, wake up early in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep, not feel refreshed when you get up, find it hard to nap during the day, despite feeling tired, feel tired and irritable during the day and have difficulty concentrating.

Occasional episodes of insomnia may come and go without causing any serious problems, but for some people it can last for months or even years at a time. Persistent insomnia can have a significant impact on your quality of life. It can limit what you're able to do during the day, affect your mood, and lead to relationship problems with friends, family and colleagues.

Western medicine treats the symptoms of insomnia with medication but also seeks to promote behavioural changes that support sleep. 

The Ancient Chinese keenly observed the cycles of night and day and noted that the quality of our energy changed with the sun’s rising and setting.  They also noted that each of the 12 meridians has a peak time of activity and of passiveness in the 24-hour cycle, and the wave of peak energy moved in a continuous cycle around the body throughout the day and night.  This Law of Midday and Midnight is an important factor in the diagnosis of imbalance and Five Element Acupuncture can enhance sleep by restoring balance in the energy flow, especially throughout the 24-hour cycle.