Hi, are you awake? Me too...
We spend about one-third of our lives asleep… hopefully. The American Sleep Association revealed that 50–70 million U.S. adults experience ongoing sleep challenges or disruptions.
“When someone is in a chronic sleep-restricted state they’ll notice excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, clumsiness, and weight gain or weight loss. Moreover, lack of sleep can impact brain function
Often, sleep problems can result from a digestive disharmony, followed by an array of other issues. While sleep deprivation itself can lead to a host of issues throughout the bodymind, it can also stem from imbalances occurring outside the expected sleep-associated realms.
A calm Mind is like a gentle lullaby
“If the Mind is calm and balanced, a person sleeps well. If the Mind is restless, the person sleeps badly”.
According to Chinese Medicine principles, the quality of sleep primarily depends on our state of mind (Shen) and Ethereal Soul (Hun).
The Shen and Hun are two spirits present in the blood of the Heart and Liver respectively. The abundance and balance of Yin and Blood of these organs offers a layer to soothe the soul at night. Any imbalance between the two makes them swift away from their origins, leading to a disturbed sleep.
Liver and Heart systems are mainly associated with sleep disorders. However, different other organs like the Spleen, Gallbladder, and Kidney also play a role. In Western meanings, this is closely associated with mental-emotional, digestive, and hormonal imbalances, contributing to sleep troubles.
To better understand the possible contributors to your sleep concerns, we can take an in-depth look into the symptoms as well as the constitutional and contextual factors for better knowledge. Let’s explore some common patterns that may influence sleep, according to Chinese Medicine.
Why aren’t you sleeping?
Tossing and turning through the night due to physical agitation (which may also be present during the day), night sweats, palpitations, heat, and disturbing dreams is indicative of Kidney and Heart Yin deficiency. This type of pattern may occur during life transitions such as midlife hormonal shifts.
However, if your racing mind makes it impossible for you to fall asleep and you get feelings of anxiety, lethargy, forgetfulness, and distraction, the root cause is most likely a weak Spleen, alongside deficient Heart Blood. This type of disrupted sleep pattern comes with frequent nightmares, and is common amongst students, the elderly, chronically ill patients, and those prone to excessive worry and rumination. Here, it is important to adopt practices and natural approaches that support restful sleep and help manage daily stress. Since the Spleen functions to transform energy from food into Qi and Blood, nutritional interventions also promote healthier digestion.
Digestive disharmony in the form of indigestion can also contribute to restless, dream-disturbed sleep. It’s caused by over-eating/drinking, creating phlegm accumulation and heat that disturbs the Mind. Nourishing the gut through diet/herbs, eating at regular intervals (not too late at night!), and avoiding too much alcohol and spicy or greasy foods can support more restful sleep by encouraging digestive comfort.
High stress and emotions that cause Liver Qi stagnation, like anger, anxiety, or shock, contribute towards disrupted sleep patterns. People with Liver Qi constraint also experience irritability, worry, and fatigue throughout the day. They’ll often consistently wake up around 3am - when Liver energy prevails. Women with Premenstrual Syndrome most commonly suffer from this. Other important emotions like grief can affect Lung energy in TCM theory, which may contribute to changes in sleep rhythms. However, these are more clearly evident at 5 AM when the Lung Organ System becomes highly active.
In case of deficiency of Liver Blood which often happens after menses or due to heavy menstrual bleeding, failure to fall asleep is followed by daytime fatigue, emotional instability, dizziness, and possibly blurred vision.
For those who wake up early in the morning and cannot fall back to sleep, in TCM, a weak Gallbladder pattern may be associated with feelings of indecisiveness or low motivation, which can impact how one feels in the early morning hours.
Sometimes, occasional sleeplessness may occur due to seasonal shifts, immune responses, or environmental factors, such as sensory disturbances (noise, lights, room temperature, etc). As we move into Spring, allergies tend to be a common source of sleep troubles, since an overactive immune response keeps the Wei Qi on guard at night, when it is supposed to retreat inward.
No one-size-fits-all approach to supporting healthy sleep
So, if you are stressed about something that is hindering your much-awaited sleep, it is important to understand the factors that are accountable and emerging into your life. If you’re lucky, the solution may be as simple as sleeping with an eye mask, but if the problem is persistent, chances are your emotions, digestion, or endocrine systems are also involved. A personalized wellness approach considers the nuances of your experience—something TCM practitioners are trained to assess, and Chinese Medicine provides a holistic lens through which many people explore the root of their sleep imbalances.
Care Consideration: Just a reminder that the above information is not a substitute for medical care and is not a substitute for medical advice or recommendations from a healthcare provider. This information is not intended to treat, mitigate, or cure any disease. That said, we encourage you to connect with an Acupuncturist in your community to learn more about this and other Traditional Chinese Medicine options. If you’ve got questions about Chinese herbal medicine or getting started with an Acupuncturist, feel free to connect with us at hello@mydaolabs.com.
Hannah Fries is a California-based licensed acupuncturist and herbalist (L.Ac.), writer, and Integrative Body Psychotherapy allied professional. She seeks to discover & alchemize the psycho-emotional and spiritual roots of disharmony in the physical body to help her clients transform the obstacles that interfere with their innate healing capacity. Find out more about Hannah and her work on her website at https://www.friespirit.com or on Instagram @friespirit.
