Autonomic Activation in Insomnia: The Case for Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an important treatment modality in Tradi-tional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which involves insert-ing and manipulating needles at a combination of points on the body (including trunk, limbs, ears, scalp, etc.) called acupoints to relieve symptoms, to achieve therapeutic effects, and/or to prevent the development of more severe medical conditions. It has been practiced for over 3000 years with beneficial clinical effects on many disorders. Because of dissimilar philosophical views on the human body, the languages used by energy-based TCM (holistic and metaphysical) and biophysiology-based Western Medicine (anatomic and empirical) are completely dif-ferent. The ancient Chinese theories of “meridians ” and “energy balancing ” or “unblocking effects of acupuncture ” have con-fused Western readers and often provide the basis for conven-tional Western medicine practitioners to express their doubts and disbeliefs. Thus, to explore the mechanisms of acupunctur