Godmanchester (01480) 435554
St Neots (01480) 211411

Treatment of insomnia by acupuncture

What is insomnia?

5 million people in the UK suffer from chronic insomnia. People with insomnia experience sleeping difficulties, such as:

• Not getting enough sleep
• Trouble falling asleep
• Frequently waking
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Light or unrefreshing sleep, waking up tired
• Unpredictable sleep
• Disturbed or excessive dreaming, nightmares.

These difficulties can be transient, short term (up to 3 weeks) or chronic (over 3 weeks).

If insomnia is left untreated

If left untreated, insomnia sufferers are at a risk of developing further health problems, such as depression, are more at risk of accidents and injuries and are less likely to have a good quality of life.

Conventional medical treatment of insomnia

Medical treatment of insomnia includes the use of sedative antidepressant medication, which often carries substantial risks of side effects. These include damage to the heart, risk of falls (in particular in elderly people), drowsiness, which may lead to road traffic accidents and other side effects.

Acupuncture treatment of insomnia

Whilst sleeping pills are designed to sedate, acupuncture seeks to treat the root cause of your insomnia. As part of your acupuncture treatment you may be given advice about how to reduce some of the possible causes of your insomnia. For example because of poor dietary patterns, inappropriate exercise and stress. Although in most cases a course of treatment is required, some patients find that their sleep improves just after 2 or 3 sessions. The improvement in sleep from acupuncture is often long lasting. Many people do not require any further treatment.

Our expertise in the treatment of insomnia

Our acupuncturist, Irina Szmelskyj, has expert knowledge in the treatment of insomnia using acupuncture. Her expertise in the use of acupuncture to treat insomnia has been nationally recognised by the British Acupuncture Council. In 2005 Irina was awarded the British Acupuncture Council Research Excellence Award in recognition of the contribution she had made through her research to furthering the understanding of how acupuncture can be used to treat insomnia.

Due to Irina’s expertise in the treatment of insomnia by acupuncture, 90% of patients treated at our practice find that their sleep significantly improves after a course of acupuncture.