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Insomnia
Not being able to get to sleep can have various serious consequences if it becomes a regular feature of your life. The good news is that most cases can be effectively treated.
Waking in the Night
Light sleeping that causes regular waking during the night is also very treatable, although the treatment may differ from that for insomnia.
Not Getting to Sleep
By careful questioning it usually possible to identify the main causative factors. From then on the most effective treatments can be selected.
Snoring
Snoring can be a sign of a more serious condition, obstructive sleep apnoeia, that
would need treating. If you think you have this condition, don’t dely -
Sleeping too Much
Sleeping too much can be just as depleting as persistent insomnia. If you feel like you are sleeping too much try keeping a sleep diary to gauge exactly how much.
Parasomnias
These are strange behaviours at night, including sleepwalking, grinding teeth, restless legs, night terrors and bed wetting. There are many effective ways of treating these conditions.
Adult Insomnia and Other Sleep Disorders
Most sleep disorders can be overcome and normal sleep patterns can be resumed by addressing the cause of the disorder
There are basically three types of sleep disorder:- Not sleeping well
- sleeping too much
- behaving unusually or having strange experiences at night
It is essential to identify the underlying sleep disorder because each requires its own form of treatment. Careful enquiry will almost always reveal the reason why you have a sleep disorder, and this could be any number of things. Once identified, the cause should be able to be treated effectively.
At the Urban Fringe Dispensary we are able to offer a number of highly effective approaches to treating many of the causes of sleep disorders, including herbal medicine, acupuncture, various physical therapies. We also offer expert advice on strategies that you can employ yourself as part of the healing process.
Identifying the Cause
It is usually necessary to book in for at least one full consultation with one of our practitioners to ascertain the causes of your problem. Sleep problems are often the result of mental or emotional issues, but may also be due to a whole range of physical issues that result in pain, shortness of breath, coughing, excessive urination, nausea, or other bothersome symptoms occurring at night. Only a thorough investigation can really get to the root of it.It is quite common for sufferers of medium-term or chronic insomnia to feel anxious about their condition and assume that the anxiety is the cause of the problem. This is often not true, as many mental and emotional issues come about as the result of sleep problems. Once the physical conditions are addressed to establish natural diurnal rhythms, which are necessary for full restorative sleep, other issues often seem to melt away.
Sleep Hygiene
This refers to making sure all the external conditions for a good night's sleep are in place - such as having a comfortable bed - rather than having clean pyjamas! Although clean pyjamas are obviously important too. See here for a list of does and don'ts about sleep hygiene.Herbal Treatments
Herbal treatment is based on a holistic assesment of what is going on, and prescriptions are personalised for each individual to address his or her particular issues. Whilst there are many different nervine herbs (some of which are listed here, with details, it is quite likely that herbal treatment will focus on other physiological aspects such as digestive function and hormonal balance. One underlying principle of holistic medicine is that treatment should not depend on substances, whether herbs or drugs. In short, using herbs should be seen as a means of curing the problem, rather than a way of creating dependency. Having said that, herbal treatments sometimes take several months to establish normal sleeping patterns.Acupuncture
Acupuncture is highly efficient in treating sleep disorders. Many patients find that their sleeping patterns improve even whilst undergoing a course of treatment for an entirely different condition. There have been many research studies to show that acupuncture increases and regulates the production of endorphins, the body’s natural opiates. Chinese Medicine is founded on the principles of rhythms and cycles within nature, and works to restore these within the body. In taking your case history, we consider your individual sleep pattern. Waking too early has an entirely different cause than being unable to ‘drop off’. For example, frequent waking throughout the night, which often accompanies the menopause or periods of stress and anxiety, shows that the body is running too hot to surrender fully to the restorative function of sleep. In this case, stimulating the Yin, (the function which allows us to ‘chill’,) will rebalance the body’s natural ability to sleep soundly. More...Cranio sacral therapy
Craniosacral therapy offers another useful way to approach sleep problems. Clients often describe CST sessions as having a sleep-like quality, sometimes associated with dream-like imagery. People often feel deeply rested after a session and experience more restful sleep afterwards. Longer term, CST can help with the deeper issues underlying difficulties with sleep; facilitating greater confidence in the natural process of letting-go to fall asleep, and greater trust in the restorative and imaginative powers of the body.