Lately, I’ve been treating a lot of insomnia in my practice and I was also experiencing it myself for the past few months. Not sleeping becomes a vicious cycle if it goes on for long enough. There are many causes of insomnia:
Hormone imbalances
Age
Anemia (low iron levels)
Irregular sleep times (as with people who do shift work)
Prescription drugs
Other health issues (pain, GERD, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, cancer)
Mental health imbalances
Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol
I looked for all of the possible reasons as to why I kept waking up at 1am and sometimes would be up for hours, or I would fall back to sleep and then be up again at 4am. Hormonal? Check. Old? Check. Caffeine? Check. (And unwilling to give up!)
I also turned to Chinese Medicine for insight, where the causes of insomnia include Qi stagnation, internal heat, stomach problems. Yin and Xue* deficiency. In particular, when there is Yin and Xue deficiency within the Liver and Heart systems, it is said that the mind cannot be “anchored” and then the soul is said to “float” at night.
My partner asked why my brain kept spinning at night and then asked me a simple yet powerful question, “What are you not saying?” I stopped and thought for a while.
We then had a long discussion and I finally said all of the things I had been holding back- some worries, some gripes, and some things I simply didn’t want to say for fear of hurting her feelings.
In the end it was all okay and I fell into a deep sleep for the first time in ages. When I woke up I said, “I feel like I’ve unburdened my heart”. Sleep has been much better ever since.
Now I say it to the kids if they have a hard time sleeping. “Do you need to unburden your heart?” I am met with eye-rolls and “you’re crazy, Mom.”
They’ll get it someday.
Thanks for reading,
Erin
image link
For more on sleep patterns in TCM https://www.wildearthacupuncture.com/blog/2024/3/22/what-traditional-chinese-medicine-says-abiut-sleep
*Capitalized words in Chinese Medicine represent larger concepts not covered in this article.
Another wonderful read!! 🙏♥️🫶
Great article as always Erin! 👏🏼🫶💝