Acupuncture for Sleep and Insomnia

Acupuncture shifts the nervous system out of the alert, wired state that keeps you awake and into the rest-and-digest state that lets sleep come. Many patients fall asleep on the table at their first visit. Over a course of care the effect carries into the night: falling asleep faster, waking less often, and waking more rested.

Research suggests acupuncture may improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia symptoms, on its own and alongside other treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It does not cause morning grogginess or dependence, which is why many people try it before, or while coming off, sleep medication with their doctor’s guidance.

In Chinese medicine, different kinds of sleeplessness point to different causes. Trouble falling asleep with a racing mind, waking between 1 and 3 a.m., light and dream-disturbed sleep, or waking early and exhausted each call for different points and herbal formulas. Your practitioner also looks at what feeds the problem: stress and anxiety, pain, hot flashes and night sweats, blood sugar dips, caffeine and alcohol, late screens and an irregular schedule.

Sleep rarely breaks on its own. We often treat it together with anxiety and stress, menopause symptoms, chronic pain or digestive trouble, because fixing the driver is what lets sleep hold. Where it helps, functional lab testing can check thyroid, blood sugar and stress hormones, and nutrition guidance steadies the evening dips that wake you. If your pattern suggests sleep apnea or another condition that needs a sleep study, we will say so and point you to your physician.