Do you toss and turn every night, have vivid and disturbing dreams, or can’t fall asleep or stay asleep? It could be that you are suffering from a Chi energy imbalance.
Restful sleep is a sign of internal Chi balance. Sleep, like healthy eating and exercise, is a vital and important part of wellness. Regularly interrupted sleep lowers your energy levels and mental abilities, negatively affects your mood, increases the time it takes to recover from illnesses, and makes you more susceptible to anxiety and depression.
types of insomnia
In discussing insomnia, TCM believes that there are four main types and each has a different cause and therefore a different treatment approach.
Sleep disturbed by dreams: Do you dream constantly? Do your dreams affect the quality of your sleep? If you find that you are having nightmares, then you could have a gallbladder meridian imbalance. If you find that you can’t sleep because your mind is constantly in overdrive, you may have an imbalance in the spleen meridian.
Difficulty getting to sleep: Do you lie awake, tossing and turning for hours? You may have a liver meridian imbalance.
Wake up easily: Do you fall asleep easily, but then wake up and find it difficult to go back to sleep? This may indicate an imbalance of the spleen.
Wake up at a specific time each night: Do you think that no matter what time you go to bed, you wake up at the same time during the night? In TCM theory, the Chi of the body circulates through the twelve main meridians at a specific time of the day and spends 2 hours in each. Each meridian is related to an internal organ and each organ is related to specific emotions.
* 23:00 – 01:00: represents gallbladder imbalance
* 1 am – 3 am: represents liver imbalance
* 3 am – 5 am: represents lung imbalance
* 5 am – 7 am: represents the imbalance of the large intestine
causes of insomnia
From the perspective of TCM, insomnia originates as a lack of harmony between the heart meridian and the Shen. The Shen (a type of Chi) can be thought of as your spirit or psyche, while the heart is responsible for ‘housing the Shen’. An interruption in the heart’s ability to contain the Shen or a worsening of the Shen itself can cause insomnia.
The following meridian systems and Chi imbalances can affect the heart’s ability to house the Shen or disrupt the Shen directly:
Yin/Yang imbalance
Insufficient calm (poor Yin energy) or too much stimulation (excess Yang energy) can aggravate Shen. This yin/yang imbalance can be addressed by increasing the Yin energy through meditation, ChiYo, breathing exercises, or listening to relaxing music, and decreasing the Yang energy by avoiding too much mental stimulation, especially before bed.
Imbalance of the spleen meridian
Overwork, physical or mental exhaustion, excessive worry and thinking, irregular diet, excessive intake of cold and raw foods can damage the Chi of the spleen. As the spleen is responsible for blood production, if the spleen is weak, the heart and Shen.
kidney meridian imbalance
The kidneys, like all organs in the body, store energy. When the kidney’s ability to store energy is compromised by anxiety and fear, traumatic experiences, aging, serious illness, cold and overwork, and its Yin energy is depleted, it will be unable to nourish and support the kidney. heart, so the Shen can not rest
liver meridian imbalance
Anxiety, anger, irritability, frustration, resentment, suppressed emotions, excessive stress, fatty foods, and alcohol disrupt the normal functions of the liver meridian, leading to stagnation of Chi in the liver. This stagnation of Chi in the liver results in reduced blood flow to the heart, reducing the heart’s ability to house the Shen. Over time, this stagnation causes heat to rise and disturb the heart and Shen.
Imbalance of the stomach meridian
Excessive consumption of fatty or sweet foods can cause fluid retention and phlegm in the stomach, causing heat that disrupts the Shen.