insomnia

Chinese Herbal Medicine For Insomnia

As an ex-insomniac myself, I know the pain of not being able to sleep.

If your sleep is bad, everything just gets harder. Your energy is low, you can’t concentrate, you become snappy and irritable.

Plus, without the repair that it needs, your body suffers, too. Lack of sleep lowers your immunity, makes it harder to shift excess weight, and in the long term puts you at increased risk of serious diseases like heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Luckily, Chinese medicine can help.

Chinese Medicine For Insomnia

Years ago, when I was having trouble with my sleep, I tried all the standard herbal remedies – valerian, passionflower, hops, kava-kava, and gallons of chamomile tea. None of them worked much.

The problem with all these kinds of sleep remedies is that they’re all a bit simple and generic, and sleep conditions are complex. Unless you’re extremely lucky, a ‘one size fits all’ approach is unlikely to work.

And that’s where Chinese medicine has it strength.

Using Chinese herbal medicine for insomnia isn’t about using a ‘standard’ herb that helps you sleep. Instead, we look in detail at your sleep problems, and your whole health and well-being to understand exactly where the imbalance is, and then a herbal formula is made up specifically for you.

For instance, some people have restless sleep with lots of dreams, some get very hot in bed, some have trouble dropping off but then sleep through, and for some the problem is waking early. It could be that your mind is racing, and that stops you sleeping, or it might just be that you lie there, and can’t drop off.

There are a million different possibilities, which is why the Chinese herbal formulas are flexible and tailor-made for each individual. So although you may hear that Chinese herb X or formula Y is good for treating insomnia, they’re unlikely to do much more than the gallons of chamomile tea that I tried when I was younger – UNLESS you have a detailed consultation, and get exactly the right formula for you.

And in fact, once you get exactly the right formula, the results can be very good. Chinese herbal medicine treats insomnia by getting to the root cause of the problem – by addressing the imbalance that is causing your sleep problems in the first place – so it’s both effective, and also long lasting.


If you know anyone who is suffering from insomnia, maybe I can help – more information here: Chinese Herbal Medicine, Bristol and South Wales