Sleep is one of the fundamentals of wellness. We all could use a good sleep and if we don't get it we feel the effects. I have learned alot in regards to this vital requirement and I will share  with you. Its difficult to know where to start as their are numerous contributors to poor sleep (insomnia). I'm going to cover things you are very unlikely to hear about but are very valuable and accurate. Lets start with some TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine) theory. In studying Acupuncture we learn about the organ clock. Their are 24 hours in the clock and 12  main organs in the body, each organ having a 2 hour time within the clock. Their is an energetic peak within each organ during its time. If the organ is stressed or weak usually you will have a symptom appear during that time like clockwork.  During the night these are the organs that could wake us up if they are stressed; gallbladder(11-1am),Liver(1-3),Lungs(3-5),Large Intestine(5-7). If the person has difficulty getting to sleep or wakes very often we  think of the heart. In TCM we learn that the mind and the heart have a very strong connection. If the heart is deficient in energy the mind will not settle and rest. An energy deficiency doesn't always equate to a tissue weakness of the organ. It often  relates to energy stagnating in an other organ usually the liver. Lets dig a little deeper into TCM. Imagine a circle and on that circle we have 5 smaller circles evenly spread out with an arrow pointing clockwise between them. The small circles are the 5 elements which relate to the organs. The elements are wood,fire,earth,metal and water. All the organs are within these elements and the energy of the body flows from one to the next in a clockwise direction. The Liver/Gallbladder make up the wood element and the heart/small intestine, pericardium/triple warmer( don't ask) make up the fire element. The fire organs depend on a good flow of energy from the wood organs. The liver is an organ of cleansing and is a filter. Waste can build up within this organ(gallstones) and cause a physical and energetic stagnation. Liver cleansing/nurturing can remove this energy stagnation and help sleep disorders. Lets go even deeper and talk a little about Yin/Yang. Each organ is either a Yin or a Yang organ. If its a Yin organ it will be paired up with a Yang organ. The heart is  Yin  paired up with the small intestine which is Yang. What this means is they are very strongly connected energetically. If you help one it will help the other if one is stressed it will have a negative effect on the other. The body dedicates so much energy for the two to share. If one is stressed it will take too much energy leaving the other in a deficient state. Nurturing the small Intestine by removing wheat from the diet can help sleep because it can free up some energy for the heart and therefore help settle the mind.  If you are troubled with having to wake up to urinate even if you haven't drank for more than 1 hour before bed you may need to do a Kidney cleanse. Personally if I have to get up to urinate especially if its twice during the night I know its time to cleanse the kidneys. Once I have completed the 1 month long cleanse I can sleep through the night without having to get up to urinate.Residues in the kidneys cause then to become irritated and this leads to a quicker creation of urine in the bladder. Through an assessment technique called Iridology and through a thorough  case history we can get an idea of organ weakness. Everyone has areas of weakness , no one is perfect. Regular blood work only identifies major organ weakness. Once we start a program to nurture the organ we will check in to see if the sleep has improved.  Another cleanse that can be very helpful to improve sleep is a Parasitic cleanse. Parasites are very stressful to the body and some say they are more active at night. When a person grinds their teeth at night its usually parasites that are the cause. Everyone who comes for the Iridology Assessment will be tested for parasitic herbal /homeopathic medicines along with the Kidney cleansing herbs and Candida medicines. Their is one more thing that we have noticed that can effect the quality of the sleep negatively and that is Electromagnetic fields. The WHO(world health organization)  has classed EMF radiation as a class II toxin . This class also includes things like DDT and Lead. We often get reports of improved sleep once we do a house visit and install the EMF balancers.(see other article).  I hope you found this informative and I look forward to working with you to improve your sleep.