01
Awake at 2–3 a.m.
Falling asleep is no problem,
but your eyes open at 2 or 3 a.m.
If waking up before dawn
has been going on for months
Insomnia · Sleep Disorders
Instead of covering it up with sleeping pills, we start by finding out why you wake up. This isn't about medicine that puts you to sleep. It's treatment that builds a body that stays asleep.
We allow about one month for symptoms to settle and three months to get the body back on track. It got tangled up gradually, so untangling it also takes time.
Are your nights like this?
If you fall asleep but wake before dawn and can't get back to sleep,
that is insomnia too, and it has a name.
People whose nights go like this are the ones we see most in our clinic. And most of them have put up with it for a long time before coming in, thinking, "I can fall asleep, so it can't be insomnia." Waking up and not being able to get back to sleep is a type of insomnia called sleep maintenance insomnia.
02
Can't fall back asleep
Once you wake, thoughts come flooding in,
and you toss and turn until morning.
03
Not refreshed after sleep
You did sleep, but when you get up
you feel more tired than last night.
04
Dreading bedtime
You worry you won't sleep again tonight,
so just lying down feels like a burden.
It's not that you lack sleep. Your alert system won't switch off
You've probably tried everything people recommend: going to bed early, warm water, half-body baths, and sleeping pills. Things got a little better for a while, and then you were back to those early-morning hours.
If the cause stays the same, the nights come back the same.
Research describes chronic insomnia not as "not getting enough sleep" but as a state where the body's arousal system doesn't switch off, even at night. Even lying down, the body can't get out of standby mode.
Korean medicine has long called the same thing "heat above, cold below": heat rising to the top while the lower body turns cold. The words differ, but they point to the same place.
And that rising heat comes in three types. When the type differs, so does the medicine.
If you keep changing methods without knowing which type you have, your nights won't change. That's why we start with tests.
1
Your face flushes
and heat surges up
Main Symptoms
- • Red, burning face
- • Strong pulse
- • Blood pressure and heart rate are up as well
Diagnosis Pattern
Excess fire — heat you can see
Recommended Treatment
Bringing the risen heat down
We help bring down heat gathered in the upper body so you can settle at night.
→ We track the flushed feeling when you lie down and how long it takes you to fall asleep.
2
Your chest feels tight
and your thoughts won't stop
Main Symptoms
- • Worries keep coming one after another
- • Tight chest, frequent sighing
- • No obvious heat, but your nerves are on edge
Diagnosis Pattern
Pent-up fire — so restless you can't fall asleep. The most common type
Recommended Treatment
Releasing what's knotted up
We help release what's pent up so your nerves can calm down at night.
→ We track how much your thoughts keep running after you lie down and how often you wake before dawn.
3
Cold hands and feet,
but heat rising to your face at night
Main Symptoms
- • Cold hands and feet, pale face
- • Heat rises to your face at night
- • You don't recover even after sleeping
Diagnosis Pattern
Deficiency fire — heat rising when the body's reserves are running low
Recommended Treatment
Replenishing what's lacking
We help replenish what's lacking so heat doesn't rise for no reason.
→ We track the warmth that rises at night and how well you've recovered by morning.
It starts with how we measure
We start by checking numbers, not just how things feel.
We check the numbers
When herbal medicine is needed,
we first run blood, brainwave (EEG) and body composition tests.
we first run blood, brainwave (EEG) and body composition tests.
We also look at what numbers miss
Abdominal diagnosis shows tension in the belly,
and pulse and tongue diagnosis show your body's tendencies.
and pulse and tongue diagnosis show your body's tendencies.
If it's not our field, we refer you
If sleep apnea is suspected, before any treatment
we first refer you to a sleep study (polysomnography) center.
we first refer you to a sleep study (polysomnography) center.
We share the evidence
We explain why we're treating in this direction,
and whether there's evidence behind it.
and whether there's evidence behind it.
Treatment Process
Treatment goes in this order
1
We find the cause
We start by checking what time you wake up and what wakes you. If something in the body is waking you, like pain, needing to urinate at night, or reflux, we deal with that first. We also trace back when this started. Sometimes it begins after a long course of antibiotics, so we always ask.
2
We treat to switch off arousal
There's an order to it. First comes the digestive system. Even good medicine just passes through if it can't be absorbed, and a large share of the hormones needed for sleep are made in the gut.
Next is replenishing what's lacking. A body that hasn't slept well for a long time has used up everything it had, and its reserves are empty.
We ease tension built up during the day with acupuncture and pharmacopuncture, and help restore a broken rhythm with herbal medicine matched to your test results. We work on bedtime habits together through bed retraining. We don't just hand out sleep hygiene tips on their own.
3
We check with numbers
We compare the measures taken before treatment again at follow-up visits. If nothing has changed, we don't repeat the same treatment; we go back and look for the cause again.
4
Since opening, through August 2026
2,417 test-based herbal prescriptions have shaped these standards.
If you take sleeping pills
You start while keeping your medication as it is
We don't cut back from the start. First we confirm that the time it takes you to fall asleep and the number of times you wake at night have changed. Talk of reducing comes after that.
Please don't stop suddenly on your own. Stopping all at once can make sleep even harder and sometimes brings on anxiety or shaking. That's not because the medicine is bad. It's because of the way it was stopped.
When it's time to reduce, we'll guide you to take your records to the doctor who prescribed it and talk it over with them. How much and how fast to reduce is for the prescriber to decide. Our part is to build a body that makes that decision possible. If things get hard again while reducing, we slow down. Going back a step is not a failure.
Stopping the medication isn't the goal in itself. The goal is to build the conditions in your body for sleeping without medication, and reducing follows as a result.
Once you start reducing, there may be a harder stretch of about a week. We tell you that ahead of time. It's a reaction that happens when medication leaves the body suddenly, and we've written about it separately.
Self-check
In two minutes, see where your sleep stands right now
Seven questions to sum up how you've been sleeping lately.
The results don't diagnose anything. They give you a summary to bring to your visit.
Frequently asked questions
Q. I fall asleep fine but wake up before dawn. Is that something you treat?
A. Yes. That's the type we see most often. Waking up during the night (sleep maintenance insomnia) has different causes and calls for a different approach than trouble falling asleep. We start by asking what time you wake up.
Q. I take sleeping pills. Can I still get treatment?
A. Yes. You start while keeping your current medication, and we don't recommend stopping suddenly on your own. When it's time to reduce, we'll guide you to take your records to the doctor who prescribed it and talk it over with them. How much and how fast to reduce is for the prescriber to decide.
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Q. Do you diagnose insomnia with a brainwave (EEG) test?
A. No. The EEG isn't a diagnostic tool. It's a reference for tendencies in alertness and a way to compare before and after treatment. Diagnosis is based on a consultation and an assessment of your sleep patterns, and when needed, we refer you to a sleep study center.
Q. I do sleep, but it never feels deep.
A. Deep sleep naturally comes only in the early part of the night. Even on a very good night it's about an hour and a half, and on a bad night 20 to 30 minutes. Nobody sleeps deeply all night long. Knowing this can ease the worry that "I never get deep sleep" a little.
Q. Tests show nothing wrong, so why can't I sleep?
A. Tests look for tissue damage or abnormal numbers. Problems like whether your body properly settles down at night may not be picked up. We check for those through abdominal and pulse diagnosis.
Q. What is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)?
A. It's a way of correcting habits and thoughts that get in the way of sleep, through counseling. We go over together what time you go to bed and get up, and what you do when you can't sleep, and fix things one at a time. Some things medicine alone can't reach, so we use both together.
Q. How long will I need to come in?
A. We allow about one month for symptoms to settle and three months to get the body back on track. Your body didn't get this way overnight. It got tangled up gradually, so untangling it also takes time. If you only want to try it for a month, we'll honestly tell you it may be better not to start. In a month, sleep quality may improve a little, but your overall condition won't have caught up yet. At a set point, we check the changes together and decide whether to continue or change direction. We won't keep you coming in with no end in sight.
Q. I don't have time to visit during the day.
A. We're open every day: until 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, and until 4:00 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. Many office workers come in after work.
Insomnia · Sleep Disorders 건강 칼럼
의료진이 직접 전하는 건강 정보입니다.
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What we aim for
Nights when you don't wake before the alarm
Mornings when you don't have to count how many times you woke last night.
Evenings when going to bed doesn't fill you with dread.
Out of the cycle of repeated treatment, into a healthy daily life.
Progress and recovery speed vary from person to person, depending on the type of sleep problem, how long it has lasted, and any other conditions you have.
Health column
Our articles on insomnia and sleep disorders
We've answered the questions we often hear in clinic, one per article.
Feel free to start with whatever you're curious about.