Insomnia has different patterns: difficulty in falling asleep after retiring, early awakening, intermittent waking through the period of attempted sleep and even inability to sleep all night.
Insomnia is often accompanied by dizziness, headache, palpitation, poor memory and mental disorders.
• Anxiety and overwork damage the heart and spleen. Blood is exhausted and the mind is disturbed in case of damage of the heart, while qi and blood production becomes poor in case of deficiency of the spleen qi. Blood deficiency is unable to nourish the heart, leading to insomnia. Just as Zhang Jingyue described, “Overwork and anxiety cause exhaustion of blood and disturb the mind. As a result, insomnia follows.”
• Congenital deficiency, indulgent sexual activity, or a prolonged illness damages the kidney yin. The kidney water fails to ascend smoothly to the heart to check the heart fire and the heart yang is therefore hyperactive alternatively. A violent emotional fit can induce flaring of the heart fire which fails to descend to kidney to control the kidney water. The kidney yin is therefore deficient. Deficiency of kidney yin injures the will and excess of the heart fire disturbs the mind. In either case there is a disharmony between the heart and the kidney, and hence insomnia.
• Emotional depression cause the stagnation of qi in the liver. The stagnant qi of long duration is transformed into fire, which flares up to disturb the mind and then insomnia occurs.
• Irregular food intake damages the spleen and stomach. The accumulated undigested food produces phlegm heat in the middle jiao, which in turn causes dysfunction of the stomach and insomnia, as stated in Internal Classic that sleep is disturbed if the function of the stomach is in disharmony.
In summary, insomnia is related to dysfunction of the heart, spleen, liver and kidney although there are many other causative factors. Blood is made from food essence and supplies the heart with nourishment. Blood is stored in the liver and is soothed by the blood. Blood is controlled by the spleen where production of essence from blood continues. The essence is stored in the kidney. When the kidney essence ascends to the heart and the heart qi descends to the kidney. With harmonious condition between the heart and kidney, the mind is at ease. Whenever there is anxiety, depression or overwork to damage the heart, spleen, liver or kidney, essence and blood are consumed and mutually affected, resulting in insomnia. Insomnia can be treated with acupuncture and herbs.
For more detailed information or questions, please contact Dr. Jeon at Jun’s Acupuncture Clinic at 661-799-7369.