Category: Blog

Insomnia is more than simply having a bad night’s sleep. For some people it means lying awake for hours before falling asleep. For others, it means waking repeatedly during the night, waking very early in the morning, or sleeping for what seems like a reasonable amount of time but still feeling unrefreshed the following day.…

As we grow older, maintaining health is often less about treating a single illness and more about managing several aspects of health at once. Pain, reduced mobility, poor sleep, digestive difficulties, anxiety, fatigue and other chronic symptoms may occur alongside conditions requiring conventional medical treatment. For some older people, acupuncture may offer a gentle form…

Dizziness and vertigo are common complaints, but they can be surprisingly difficult to describe. Some people feel as though the room is spinning, while others experience a sense of unsteadiness, light-headedness, or simply that they are not quite grounded. In Chinese medicine, dizziness and vertigo are not regarded as a single condition with a single…

One of the first questions people often ask when considering acupuncture is: “How long will it take to work?” Unfortunately, there is no single answer. Some people notice a change after their first treatment, while for others the improvement is more gradual and becomes apparent over several weeks. How quickly acupuncture helps depends on a number…

Almost everyone experiences tiredness from time to time. A late night, a demanding week at work or looking after young children can leave anyone feeling exhausted. Usually, a good night’s sleep or a quiet weekend is enough to restore our energy. For some people, however, fatigue becomes something altogether different. They wake feeling unrefreshed, struggle…

The Extraordinary Vessels in Chinese Medicine The Extraordinary Vessels (奇经八脉, qí jīng bā mài) are a group of eight channels that occupy a distinctive position within the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They are sometimes described as the body’s “reservoirs” or “regulating vessels”. Unlike the twelve primary meridians, they are not directly associated with one of the…

Introduction Most people are familiar with the idea that acupuncture involves selecting individual points to treat illness. However, experienced practitioners rarely think about points in isolation. Instead, many treatments are built around carefully selected point pairings, known in Chinese as Dui Xue (对穴). Just as Chinese herbal medicine has Dui Yao—traditional herb pairs that have proved their value…

Losing your sense of smell can be surprisingly devastating. Most of us rarely think about our sense of smell until it disappears. Suddenly, favourite foods lose their flavour, flowers have no fragrance, and everyday experiences become muted. Many people also describe feeling disconnected from the world around them. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of smell…

Pediatric Epilepsy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Overview & Treatments Definition & Overview Pediatric epilepsy (痫证) is a common, convulsive neurological condition in children. It is characterized by sudden collapse, loss of consciousness, drooling, upward eye movements, and limb convulsions, with recovery after the episode often returning the child to near-normal state. Epilepsy most often…