Insomnia
Insomnia in Chinese Medicine
Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by Difficulty falling asleep, Waking up often during the night, having trouble going back to sleep, and Feeling tired upon waking. In Chinese medicine we look at the inability to fall or stay asleep as a disturbance of the shen or spirit often combine with spleen and heart yin deficiency, as well as blood deficiency. Lack of sleep over a long time further depletes the body creating even more deficiency. In order to treat these patterns we focus on tonifying deficiency and calming the shen or spirit, not sedating the way many sleep medications do. One benefit to this is there are no side effects, but it is important to remember that because we are treating the root cause of the patterns herbs must be taken consistently while we are addressing the situation. Chinese herbs can be very helpful in managing this situation, when looking for a more modern day formula to tonify the spleen and heart yin, quiet the shen (or spirit), tonify the blood and qi, Look for a formula containing one or more of the following herbs:
Best Chinese Herbs for Insomnia
Suan Zao Ren – Nourishes the heart and the Liver blood, this helps to sooth insomnia and irritability due to yin and blood deficiency.
Chai Hu – Helps to regulate qi circulation and relieve Liver qi stagnation.
He Huan PI – Which helps to calm the shen or the (spirit) and relieves stress anxiety by nourishing the Heart.
