Oak Hill Oriental Medicine

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Sleep during the late autumn and winter
11/28/2007 12:47:34 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Easy solutions
Patients have been commenting recently that they have been  tireder  and sleepier since the time change and since the weather has turned colder.

While we humans are not hibernators, we are affected by amount of sunshine and the temperature.  The world was a very different place before the widespread use of electric lights. 

At one time, long ago, I spent some time in a small rural Moroccan village which had no electricity. I was amazed at the difference.  It was no problem going to sleep soon after the sunset and no problem waking with sunrise.

The availability of reliable lights for the nights  is a very recent development and even in central Texas there were areas that did not have electricity until the 1940's and 50's.  

While artificial lighting can help us extend our day, it is no substitute for sunshine and can lead to health problems.  If we allow the stimulation of electric lights to keep us up late into the night, our biological rhythms can become disordered and cause insomnias and menstrual cycle irregularities.

We are biologically beings and our bodies automatically respond to light and temperature variations.

I do not have the research to prove it but I suspect that even SAD- "seasonal affective disorder" is strongly related to our biological need for more sleep when exposed to less light.

My response is to view my extra fatigue and sleepiness as a part of the natural cycle.  I  encourage my patients to allow themselves to sleep more so they will be ready to fully respond to the more active energies of the spring and summer seasons.
Research: Acupuncture Reduces Pain, Need For Opioids After Surgery
11/28/2007 12:14:59 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Research

Here is a link to a story from ScienceDaily on using acupuncture to reduce postoperative surgery.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016181238.htm

Below I have copied the first two paragraphs from the article. 


ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2007) — Using acupuncture before and during surgery significantly reduces the level of pain and the amount of potent painkillers needed by patients after the surgery is over, according to Duke University Medical Center anesthesiologists who combined data from 15 small randomized acupuncture clinical trials.

"While the amount of opioids needed for patients who received acupuncture was much lower than those who did not have acupuncture, the most important outcome for the patient is the reduction of the side effects associated with opioids," said Tong Joo (T.J.) Gan, M.D., a Duke anesthesiologist who presented the results of the analysis at the annual scientific conference of the American Society for Anesthesiology in San Francisco. "These side effects can negatively impact a patient's recovery from surgery and lengthen the time spent in the hospital."

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