Acupuncture can do wonders for pain - both acute and chronic. It both eases the pain and helps you bring greater awareness to your body as a whole entity. Your acupuncturist can't be there in the middle of the night, however, or at your desk at work, or at your dinner table. This approach has helped many people deal with pain in a healthy way, no pills required!
Read moreAcupuncture Reduces Protein Linked To Stress
Acupuncture reduces protein linked to stress in first of its kind animal study.
More news on the possible mechanisms of acupuncture! A researcher at Georgetown University Medical Center has found molecular evidence of acupuncture's ability to reduce stress by lowering the blood levels of a protein called neuropeptide Y. This protein is secreted by the sympathetic nervous system during stressful periods and constricts blood flow to many parts of the body. Although this is a preliminary animal study, it follows that by reducing this protein, acupuncture can help return blood flow to the extremities and digestive organs so people may feel less pain and more relaxed overall. This experiment will need to be replicated in humans before we can say for sure, but this finding may prove to be one more piece of the mechanism puzzle!
No! Sleep! 'Til ...
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Are you falling asleep easily? Are you staying asleep? Do you have dreams that wake you up? Do you feel refreshed in the morning? Acupuncturists will always ask you about your sleep because it gives us insight into your body's imbalances.
TCM has a lot to say about sleep and sleep difficulties, and insomnia is one of the common conditions we treat. In a small-but-promising placebo-controlled study, acupuncture has also been shown to treat sleep apnea. Prescription medications for insomnia may be helpful on an occasional short-term basis, but they can have unwanted consequences that include mild addiction risk, immune system effects, and a 'rebound effect', where sleep becomes worse after stopping the use of medication. Traditional Chinese Medicine's approach, however, is non-addictive and addresses the underlying imbalances that are causing your sleep disturbances.
If you're someone who suffers from insomnia, there are some common causes of sleep disturbance that you can address on your own:
Too much stimulation in the hours before bed. Exercising, working on the computer, or watching a stimulating movie too close to bed time can definitely affect your sleep. Try setting a cut-off time for electronics at least an hour before bed, and try to get exercise before 7PM. Get to bed around 10:30 so that you're asleep by Gallbladder time at 11 PM.
Not enough stimulation during the day. Many people get to the end of the day and feel a sense of anxiousness or lack of completion. If this describes you, take a look at your day and ask "What needs do I have that aren't being met during the daytime?" It may be a physical need for exercise, or it may be another kind of need likemeaningful connection to others, creativity, or inspiration. There may be a need for security or safety that isn't being met (which can look like worrying about bills, etc). You may not be able to change the circumstances of your life in one day, but taking the time to acknowledge these needs is the first step towards meeting them and being able to set them aside momentarily so you can get some shut-eye.
Too much heavy food or alcohol in the hours before bed. Try eating more in the daytime and a smaller meal at dinner. Also, try to finish eating before 7 PM to give your body some time to digest before bed.
Too much caffeine consumption during the day. Try to cut back on your caffeine consumption (especially coffee), and avoid caffeinated beverages after noon.
Low levels of Vitamin D. Vitamin D levels outside the range of 60-80, either low or high, can affect the quality of your sleep. Many people today have low Vitamin D levels and don't realize it, so get your D25OH checked the next time you get a blood test. More importantly, get outside at least once a day!
A few other things to consider:
Light stimulates the brain to wake up, so finding a way to block light out can help you sleep better.
A drop in body temperature signals sleep time for your body. We've all heard about having a warm cup of milk before bed. Doing that warms and comforts the body, but then the subsequent drop in body temperature 20 minutes later is part of what signals the body to get sleepy. You can also achieve this by taking a warm bath before bed. It's also a good idea to keep your bedroom somewhat cool, while staying warm under enough blankets. The colder temperature of the air will also help you feel sleepier.
Try some Sleeping Qi Gong. First, do these light, calming movements to help you relax and shake off the stress of the day. Once you've done those, lie in bed on your back and breathe in deeply. Let your breath go all the way to the area below your belly button. Feel your belly rise and fall with your breath. Then, imagine that your breath is coming in through all the pores in your body. Feel your breath come in and go out through your arms and legs. (If that feels overwhelming, just focus on the sensation of breath going in and out of your nose.) Stay focused on the breath entering and leaving your body and you'll be drifting off to sleep in no time!
Start by trying these approaches. If these aren't helping, you may also have an imbalance in your body that your local Chinese medicine practitioner can help you address with herbs and acupuncture! Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help to relax your body and address the imbalances behind your sleep issue.
Have other ideas for dealing with insomnia that have worked for you? Has TCM helped you have better sleep? Leave a comment below to share it with the rest of us!
(Photo credit: Chelsea Oakes)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
The Cravings Diet: Eating What Your Body Craves Most
When you go to an acupuncturist, they will inevitably ask you if you have any food cravings. The idea is not to shame you or find out about your "guilty pleasures". In Chinese medicine, the nature of your cravings is diagnostic - it helps us understand where your imbalances are.
Read moreBooks from the library: The China Study
Since we've all just recovered from the Thanksgiving Turkey, only to gear up for the Christmas Goose/Chanukah brisket, I thought I'd share this very important book with you.
The China Study tells the story of T. Colin Campbell, PhD, a prominent researcher in nutrition science who, over 30+ years of studying the effects of diet on cancer, has come to the conclusion that eating animal-based protein (meat, eggs, and dairy) is at the root of the "diseases of affluence" that afflict our society.
His work began in the 1970's by studying carcinogenic toxins, but he quickly began to discover the importance of diet in the development of cancer. Many people go to great lengths to avoid toxins in their food - buying organic, avoiding nitrates in meat, or styrofoam or BPA in food packaging. Dr. Campbell's research showed that more important than the presence of toxins is the presence of excess animal-based protein, which actually enables the damaging effects of toxins to develop into full-blown cancer. These findings led Dr. Campbell to get funding for the China Study, which was a broad-scale study that gathered information on the eating habits and health outcomes of people in different parts of rural China. The book goes into all of these findings and outcomes in detail, so I won't summarize all the evidence here, but Dr. Campbell makes a very strong case for eating a plant-based diet. He also uses the last part of the book to detail his experiences and frustrations with the Industry of food and food science.
Dr. Campbell is advocating for a plant-based, whole-foods way of eating. He is not talking about being vegan for the sake of the animals or for its lower environmental impact. He is not talking about being a vegetarian who eats a lot of refined carbohydrates. He does suggest eliminating all animal-based protein as a recipe for health and longevity, but he doesn't find it all that important if your vegetable soup might have a chicken stock, or your whole wheat bread has a small amount of dairy in it. According to Dr. Campbell, it's more important that a) you don't have a burger or pour a cup of milk in your cereal everyday and b) you are eating whole foods: whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.
Now, the times when I have walked away from dairy have been some of the healthiest times in my life. However, I was once a vegetarian and I have to say, forsaking meat entirely didn't work for me. There are just certain times when I crave meat. Chinese Medicine, also, doesn't advocate for everyone to give up meat entirely. In TCM, meat has a warming, yang energy. For people with certain imbalances, eating meat is actually seen as therapeutic. But like a therapeutic drug, even people with those imbalances don't need it everyday. When consumed in excess, that warming, yang energy could also fuel some undesirable processes and create imbalances.
Let's remember that TCM theory developed at a time when people didn't have access to meat on a regular basis. People at that time were often undernourished and working physically all day long. Until fairly recently, no one in China was eating a lot of meat on a regular basis, certainly not daily as we do in North America. As The China Study discovered, as meat consumption in China has risen, so have the rates of all the major diseases we see in the US today, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. The fact is that most omnivorous people in North America are eating way too much meat, eggs, and dairy.
I prefer a flexible approach to eating that takes my cravings into account, but The China Study makes a very compelling case for cutting meat and dairy out of most of my meals and it's a must-read if you're interested in health. I'm reminded of a mantra from another great book, Michael Pollen's Food Rules: an Eater's Manual:
*Eat food (real, whole, not processed)
*Not too much
*Mostly plants
Have other books you'd like to suggest for our bookshelf? Feel free to leave a comment here!
Acupuncture is Great for Children!
People are often surprised when they hear that acupuncture is great for children. Acupuncture, pediatric massage and herbal medicine are practical approaches to children’s and teens’ health care that focus on treatment of symptoms in addition to resolving the root causes of an illness. Many parents like to use acupuncture and massage first because it is less invasive and doesn't have unwanted side effects. Parents learn about ways to help their children stay healthy at home with pediatric massage and dietary approaches, and kids learn more about how their bodies work and heal.Pediatric acupuncture is a great way to address a range of conditions such as:
Acne
ADD/ADHD
Allergies
Anxiety
Asthma
Chronic Colds
Cough
Constipation
Diarrhea
Ear and sinus infections
Eczema
Low immunity
Menstrual cramps/PMS (teens)
Pain of all kinds
Vaccine preparation or recovery
Do You Really Use Needles With Children?
We can use needles with children who agree to try them, but we call them "taps" With small children it is effective to just tap in a small needle and then remove it, so "taps" is an easily understood name. We only use very small, very thin needles, and only if the child agrees to try "taps". Once they've tried taps, most children are hooked! For children who don't want to try taps, we can use massage and other tools to activate the acupuncture points.
Is Acupuncture Safe For Children?
Yes! Researchers from University of Alberta published a study in the journal Pediatrics that looked at data from around the world, collected over a span of 60 years. They find that acupuncture is safe for children, concluding that most of the few adverse effects that were seen were caused by sub-standard practices. "Our results support those from adult studies, which have found that acupuncture is safe when performed by appropriately trained practitioners."