Insomnia is a common ailment and can be a sequela (a condition that arises following another condition) of COVID-19.
HT7 Stimulation Can Relieve Caffeine-Dependent Sleep Deprivation
Two recent studies in South Korea have shown that acupuncture is a safe and effective way to treat insomnia.In the animal experiments conducted by the research team, mice were injected with high doses of caffeine and induced to high alert status. The researchers used electric acupuncture to stimulate an acupoint corresponding to the human acupoint spirit gate (HT7).
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the spirit gate is on the wrist at the base of the palm on the pinky finger side. To be precise and technical, it’s on the ulnar end of the transverse crease of the wrist, in the depression of the radial side of the tendon of the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle. It can regulate brain function, sports senses, and emotions.
The study results show that electroacupuncture can relieve ER stress to affect the brain while sleeping. The endoplasmic reticulum is, in essence, the transportation system of the eukaryotic cell. If pressure is overexerted on the ER, the intake of caffeine and similar environmental factors will induce the problem of immune reaction, inequivalent neurotransmission, and cause insomnia.
The research team believes that acupuncture therapy produces little adverse effect and can be used as a continuous treatment for nonmedicinal sleeping management. The research team hopes that this method will become the foundation of curing insomnia instead of machines and medications.
Study Confirmed the Safety of Acupuncture Therapy
Moreover, the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine recently confirmed the safety of acupuncture therapy through a large-scale study.The research team revealed that although previous large-scale studies from the UK, Germany, and Japan reported an acceptable safety profile for acupuncture treatment, outcomes may differ according to the clinical and cultural context in which it’s performed. Therefore, it’s necessary to do a massive and prospective study on the safety of acupuncture treatment by Korean medicine doctors.
From July 2016 to October 2017, the research team compared and analyzed the data provided by 222 Korean medicine doctors on 37,490 acupuncture treatments. The result showed that at least one adverse event was reported in 4,518 out of 37,490 acupuncture treatments, including bleeding, needle site pain, and bruising.
What Is Acupuncture in TCM?
TCM has discovered that there’s a “meridian” system in the human body that’s responsible for transporting “qi” and “blood” throughout the body. The two substances of qi and blood circulate to maintain balance and stability in various tissues and organs. When the meridian system is blocked, it will affect the transportation of substances and allow abnormalities to appear in the human body.Acupoints are a unique term in Chinese culture and TCM, and they’re places with many nerve endings and blood vessels. They’re specific locations where qi and blood gather, transfer, and enter and exit and are also regarded as energy-gathering points of the human body.
According to TCM theory, the flow of qi in the meridians can be improved by stimulating acupoints through acupuncture. When needles are inserted into the acupoints of the human body, they strengthen the circulation of qi and blood, help overcome the blockage of the meridians, restore the meridian system to normalcy, and thus help cure disease.
