Researchers have found that acupuncture is able to assist with the problem of post-stroke insomnia, and it does so by reducing hyperactivity in the sympathetic nervous system.
Fifty-two hospitalised stroke patients with insomnia, were randomly assigned to receive either real acupuncture for three days, or sham acupuncture as a control. There was greater improvement in the group receiving real acupuncture, but additionally, measures of autonomic nervous system functioning (blood pressure and heart rate variability) suggested that sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity was reduced in the real acupuncture group.
(Intradermal Acupuncture on Shen-men and Nei-kuan Acupoints Improves Insomnia in Stroke Patients by Reducing the Sympathetic Nervous System Activity: A Randomised Clinical Trial. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 2009.)
Author: Robin Costello
I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training.
I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.
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