Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 28 posts
Waking Up During the Night Is Insomnia, Too
Falling asleep but waking before dawn and not getting back to sleep is insomnia, too. It even has its own name: sleep maintenance insomnia. It isn't a lack of sleep but a state where something that should switch off at night doesn't, and often there's a separate reason your body is waking you, such as needing to urinate at night, pain or ringing in the ears. If you snore heavily, we don't start treatment; we first refer you for a sleep study. We start by measuring with pulse wave and brain wave tests and blood tests, then after treatment we measure again with the same tests and show you.
Waking at 3 a.m. and waking at 5 a.m. are different
If you fall asleep easily but wake before dawn and can't get back to sleep, that is insomnia too. But waking at 2–3 a.m. and waking at 4–5 a.m. have different causes, and different causes mean different places to look. Here's why we start by asking what time you wake up.
When you can't sleep around your period, every month
Patients tell us it always takes them a long time to fall asleep, but around their period it gets especially bad, and they wake two or three times before dawn. About a week before, they become irritable, their appetite rises, and their breasts and lower back feel heavy; then lower back pain continues until the second day of their period. Painkillers don't work as well as they used to, and they tried sleep aids, but the grogginess the next day was even harder.
When you've started drinking to fall asleep
Difficulty quitting alcohol is itself a matter for psychiatry and addiction counseling. We do not claim to offer treatment that makes you quit drinking. If you feel you can't control it on your own, or if your hands shake, you break into a cold sweat, or you can't sleep at all when you stop, please see those specialists first. We recommend getting that checked.
When heat rushes to your face and keeps you from sleeping well
Their face flushes hot, they sweat only around the head, they wake several times a night, and they feel even more tired after sleeping. Many come in worried that menopause has started. Sometimes it has, and sometimes it hasn't. We sort that out first.
For people who sweat a lot and sleep lightly
They sweat a lot from the hands and feet or all over, and wake up with their clothes damp. They also say it takes more than an hour to fall asleep after lying down. Some come in for sweating, and when we ask, it turns out sleep is the problem — and sometimes it's the other way around.
When your heart pounds as soon as you lie down and you can't fall asleep
If you have chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness as if you might faint, or a pulse that is very fast or irregular, heart tests come first. Have your thyroid function checked as well. It's a common cause of palpitations and sleep problems happening together.
When ringing in your ears keeps you from sleeping
If you suddenly lost hearing in one ear or a sound suddenly appeared, see an ENT doctor first. In that case, a few days can change the outcome. Sound in only one ear, sound with dizziness, or sound that beats like a pulse also needs that care first.
When waking up to use the bathroom at night is really a sleep problem
Your sleep keeps getting broken by several trips to the bathroom at night. Many also say they keep feeling the urge even though they don't pass much urine. We need to tell apart whether you wake because of the bathroom, or go to the bathroom because you woke up.
Why we press on your abdomen when you come in for sleep problems
Because many people who can't sleep also have an uncomfortable stomach. When your digestive system is still working at night, sleep becomes shallow. People are often puzzled when we say we'd like to press on their abdomen, so we explain why first.
What do we look at when you sleep but don't feel rested?
You spend plenty of time in bed, yet your body feels heavy in the morning. Many people also mention vivid dreams all night. People like this rarely use the word "insomnia," because they think they do sleep.
"I wake up at 3 a.m." — what do we look at first?
You can fall asleep, but you wake up around 2 or 3 a.m. without fail, and it takes a long time to get back to sleep. The time is almost always the same. Most people don't come in just to talk about sleep. They also mention a constantly stiff neck and shoulders, a bloated stomach and daytime tiredness.