1) 12 percent of people dream in only black and white. Some wake up with vivid detail from their dreams, others with no recollection at all, and some recall their dreams exclusively and specifically in black and white.
2) ⅓ of our lives will be spent asleep. If you think that’s a lot, cats spend TWICE that at ⅔ of their lives spent sleeping. In order to function at an optimal level, adults need 7-9 hours of restful shut-eye per night.
3) Ideally falling asleep at night should take you no longer than 20 minutes. Typically insomnia is the term for difficulty getting to sleep, but as we all know “insomnia” is a vast and complex term. Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD) and known more often in the medical community as “delayed sleep phase syndrome” or “delayed sleep-wake disorder” is a more specific name to describe chronic dysregulation of the circadian rhythm.
4) One in four married couples sleep in separate beds. This fact speaks volumes to the importance of achieving restful sleep. The ideal sleep environment is cool, dark, and quiet. If sleeping next to someone makes you too warm, if your partner’s movement or snoring wakes you regularly, consider adaptations to your sleep environment that best serves your individual sleep needs.
5) Parasomnia is a term used to describe unnatural sleep movements. Have you ever seen someone sleepwalking or sleep talking? If so, what they were experiencing was called parasomnia. Those with parasomnia can experience symptoms during any phase of sleep.
6) Sleep deprivation can kill you faster than food deprivation. An article in Archiv Fur Kriminologie states the body can survive for 8 to 21 days without food. The longest recorded time without sleep is just over 11 days. Though it is not known exactly how long humans can live without sleep, serious symptoms of sleep deprivation will begin to show after only three to four days. Symptoms most commonly involve visual and auditory hallucinations.
If sleep is on your mind, you’re not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s inaugural Sleep Health Index™ over 45% of Americans report weekly insufficient sleep affected their daytime activities. Good news! Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM) can not only help with insomnia but also help you achieve higher quality sleep overall.
Acupuncture can focus on specific meridians, or channels, specifically for sleep disorders, such as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both. We look at root causes: is there a hormone imbalance? Nighttime anxiety? Chronic inflammation? Poor digestion? The beauty of acupuncture lies in the specificity of your individual condition, and treating the root of the disorder, to bring about harmony, balance, and restorative sleep!
