Auricular Acupuncture and Chinese Dietary Counselling in the Treatment of Insomnia

Statement of the Problem: Insomnia is a sleep disorder that regularly affects millions of people worldwide. Individuals with insomnia find it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. It commonly leads to daytime sleepiness, lethargy, mood swings, anxiety, stress and a general feeling of being unwell, both mentally and physically.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the results of a treatment using auricular acupuncture associated with Chinese dietary counselling. A second goal is to demonstrate why erroneous eating habits, specifically during dinner, can be one of the causes of insomnia.

Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: To prove that insomnia can be treated with auricular acupuncture and Chinese dietary counselling, a retrospective research of over 1500 patients’ records was done. 55 (3.66%) of these patients were selected based on having insomnia diagnosis in their records and had performed previous treatment with auricular acupuncture associated with Chinese dietary counselling.

Findings: Of the total amount, 30 (83.33%) considered their insomnia as a main symptom which affected their lives daily.After the first month of treatment (four sessions), more than 80% of the patients felt improvement of their insomnia symptom.

Conclusion & Significance: The majority of patients who had undergone auricular acupuncture associated with Chinese dietary counselling for the treatment of insomnia had been completely cured or had significant improvement. The study also concluded that patients who not compromised with the dietary changes did not achieve the same positive results as those who agreed with them.

Keywords: Insomnia, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Auricular Acupuncture, Chinese Nutritional Therapy.