Sleep Disorders: Help Catch Those Elusive Zzzzzzs

Some of us have a hard time falling asleep. Some have a hard time staying asleep. Then there are those like me, who dream so vividly, we are actually tired when we wake up. We do so much in our dreams that we don’t rest well. The Chinese belief is that our Spirit and our Qi (energy) reside and circulate on the body's surface during the day and then goes inside at night. There are a few reasons that this pattern may be disturbed and each offers a unique approach to remedying it. Like every symptom, this is just that, a symptom of a deeper imbalance. Our symptoms arrive as teachers. If we listen closely we can live a life of more ease.

Here a few imbalances that can contribute to insomnia or restless sleep:

Heart and Spleen Deficiency (Chinese Diagnosis)

Symptoms may include:

  • Vivid dreams

  • Waking easily

  • Palpations with anxiety

  • Forgetfulness

  • Poor appetite

  • Pale tongue and face

  • Weak or heavy feeling in the limbs

Causes may include:

  • Dietary insufficiency

  • Over thinking

  • Chronic worry

  • Anxiety

  • Severe blood loss

Remedies to re-balance:

  • Shut down all devices

  • Slow down

  • Eat cooked, warm foods

  • Avoid sugar

  • Light reading before bed

  • Drink Hibiscus or Valerian tea in the evening

  • Essential oils that can help are ylang ylang, rose, Vetiver, and chamomile


Liver Blood Deficiency with Heat

Symptoms may include:

  • Irritable

  • Palpitations

  • Dizziness

  • Night sweats

  • Dry mouth/throat

  • Poor vision

  • Dry eyes or floaters

Causes may include:

  • Lack of protein in the diet

  • Severe blood loss

  • Unresolved anger

  • Poor diet or irregular eating habits

Remedies to re-balance:

  • Yin yoga before bed

  • Sleep with it cool

  • Be in bed before 11

  • Warm lemon water before bed or goji berry tea

  • Essential oils that can help are ylang ylang, helichrysum, vetiver, marjoram, and angelica

Stomach Disharmony

Symptoms may include:

  • Stuffy chest

  • Burping

  • Dreams related to upset stomach

  • Sluggish stool

  • Bloating

  • Waking early and can’t get back to sleep

  • Dizzy

  • Heavy sensation in head

  • Excess phlegm

Causes may include:

  • Excessive worry

  • Overthinking

  • Eating irregular meals

  • Eating hard to digest foods

  • Excessive metal activity

Remedies to re-balance:

  • Don’t eat close to bedtime

  • Eat cooked, warm foods

  • Ginger tea after meals, especially dinner

  • Essential oils that can help are helichrysum, jasmine, clary sage, fir, lavender, coriander seed

Yin Deficiency of the Heart and Kidney

Symptoms may include:

  • Irriability

  • Palpations with anxiety

  • Lack of focus

  • Forgetful

  • Dry drool

  • Night sweats

Causes may include:

  • Burn out. Over work and go go go

Remedies to re-balance:

  • Yin yoga

  • Meditation

  • Drink enough water

  • Nettle tea

  • Essential oils that can help are ylang ylang, vetiver, rose, spruce, geranium, frankincense

Blood Stasis

Symptoms may include:

  • Irritability

  • Chest pain

  • Mood swings

  • Piercing headaches

  • Hot flashes at night

  • Stabbing pain

Causes may include:

  • Stress

  • Trauma

  • Cold

  • Lack of relaxation

Remedies to re-balance:

  • Exercise

  • Self care, slow down

  • Meditate

  • Deep relaxation

  • Peppermint tea

  • Essential oils that can help are cypress, peppermint, angelica

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