The focus topic for this years awareness week is insomnia. If you are unable to sleep it effects everything in your life... work, pleasure, personal well-being...everything. You are grouchy with everyone including your friends and family. You don't mean to be you are just starving for some restful sleep and more importantly REM sleep. REM sleep is a deep sleep when you dream and your body rejuvinates, especially your brain.
Traditional Chinese Medicine theory dictates that the body's energy, or qi, circulates through 12 meridians, which are linked to internal organs and emotions (see chart below). The heart meridian, for instance, relates to anxiety, the liver meridian to stress and anger, the spleen meridian to worry. Too much of any emotion can affect its correlating meridian, creating a disturbance in shen. "Shen is the energy of our emotional body," explains Claudette Baker, L.Ac., president emeritus of the American Association of Oriental Medicine. "If it is affected by work or stress, it can keep us from falling asleep, prevent REM sleep, and cause us to wake easily."
So when your Kansas City acupuncturist asks you if you wake up at a certain time everynight, the answer to that question could give them a better idea of what organ it's related to. In preparation for your acupuncture, take a week to jot down what times you are waking at night to be able to better prepare yourself for questions that your practitioner may have.
Until next time.... sweet dreams
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