Electric acupuncture helps insomnia

CM NEWS – Using electric acupuncture to needle 4 “extraordinary” acupoints on the top of the head might have impressive effect on treating insomnia, a recent study indicates.

Researchers at the Shandong Provincial Hospital in China evaluated the clinical therapeutic effect of electric acupuncture at a set of 4 acupoints Sishencong (EX-HN 1, “Four Brightening Spirits”, 四神聰) on insomnia.

What is electric acupuncture? Electric acupuncture, the application of a pulsating electrical current to acupuncture needles as a means of stimulating the acupoints, was developed in China as an extension of hand manipulation of acupuncture needles around 1934.

The procedure for electric acupuncture is to insert the acupuncture needle as would normally be done, attain the qi reaction by hand manipulation, and then attach an electrode to the needle to provide continued stimulation. The benefits of using electrical stimulation are:

1. It substitutes for prolonged hand maneuvering. This helps assure that the patient gets the amount of stimulation needed, because the practitioner may otherwise pause due to fatigue. Electric acupuncture may also help reduce total treatment time by providing the continued stimulus. During electric acupuncture, the practitioner can attend to other patients.
2. It can produce a stronger stimulation, if desired, without causing tissue damage associated with twirling and lifting and thrusting the needle. Strong stimulation may be needed for difficult cases of neuralgia or paralysis.
3. It is easier to control the frequency of the stimulus and the amount of stimulus than with hand manipulation of the needles.

electric acupuncture penIn this study, 276 patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups, 138 in each group. The treatment group received electric acupuncture at Sishencong, and the control group with oral administration of Tianmeng Capsule (甜夢膠囊, or “Sweet Dream Capsule”, which is a all herb product for treating mild insomnia).

The treatment course for both groups was 3 weeks. The quality and related parameters of sleep before and after treatment were evaluated with a multi-channel sleep detector. The results showed that quality of sleep was improved in both groups after treatment.

What are Sishencong acupoints? Sishencong are the four points located one inch respectively lateral, anterior and posterior to Baihui (GV 20). Sishencong belongs to extraordinary acupoints (經外奇穴) located at the central crossing points of the vertex, the front and the back points are located on the track of Dumai (Du meridian, 督脈) and the left and right points are near the track of Bladder Meridian.

Literature shows that mild acupuncture stimulation of Sishencong has been used to treat tension insomnia.

Traditionally, Sishencong was used to treat headache, dizziness, insomnia, forgetfulness and other anxiety related conditions. In modern applications, Sishencong is related to treatments of vascular headaches, cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension, hyperactivity, vascular dementia etc.

However, the improvement in the electric acupuncture group was superior to that in the control group. The researchers suggest that needling Sishencong with electric acupuncture has obvious effect on insomnia.

Possible explanations

One study on the effect of needling Sishencong on mice shows that the acupuncture significantly increase nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and nitric oxide (NO) content in the brain. A growing body of evidence suggests that nitric oxide (NO) may play a role in the circadian and homeostatic processes of sleep regulation

In another study by a group of Taiwanese researchers revealed that the sensitivity of spontaneous barorecepor reflex was improved by acupuncture at Sishencong points.

What is baroreflex? In cardiovascular physiology, the baroreflex or baroreceptor reflex is one of the body’s homeostatic mechanisms for maintaining blood pressure. It provides a negative feedback loop in which an elevated blood pressure reflexively causes blood pressure to decrease; similarly, decreased blood pressure depresses the baroreflex, causing blood pressure to rise.

Sishencong acupuncture might be able to simultaneously enhance cardiac vagal activity and suppress cardiac and vascular sympathetic activities in humans. It also augments the sensitivity of baroreflex. The result can explain the therapeutic mechanism on tension insomnia by acupuncture at Sishencong points.

Garlic lowers blood glucose levels of diabetics, helps hypertension

CM NEWS – Garlic may restore some of the antioxidants damaged by free radicals in patents with vascular diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, according to a new study.

The study is recently published by the Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Rats induced to have diabetes and hypertension were given an an aqueous extract of garlic (500 mg/kg IP daily) for 3 weeks.

As a result, the blood antioxidant levels of these rats after 3 weeks of treatment were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than the pretreatment levels in both diabetic and hypertensive rats. The increased serum antioxidant levels were paralleled by a decrease in serum glucose in the garlic-treated diabetic rats and lowered systolic blood pressure in the garlic-treated hypertensive rats.

What is the importance of antioxidants? Oxidative stress, an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) above the body’s antioxidant capacity, has been implicated in the development of many pathophysiological conditions including hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer, as well as the process of aging.

ROS are normal products of cellular metabolism which are usually removed by endogenous antioxidants. However, it has become increasingly clear that overproduction of ROS can lead to a damaging cycle of lipid peroxidation, depletion of natural antioxidants such as glutathione, perturbation of nitric oxide production and disruption of normalcellular metabolism. These changes have been shown to cause damage to cell membranes and in particular can cause endothelial dysfunction.

During the last decade, it has become increasingly evident that many chronic diseases are accompanied by increased levels of oxidative stress exacerbated by decreased antioxidant levels. These observations have precipitated much interest in study of the correlations between oxidative stress, antioxidant potential and development of chronic diseases in both humans and animal models. Of particular interest are the correlations between oxidative stress and development of diabetes and hypertension.

The researchers conclude that treatment of diabetic rats with garlic resulted in significantly increased antioxidant and lowered glucose levels compared to untreated diabetic animals.

Vitamin D helps brain to work well at later age

Vitamin D may have a key role in helping the brain to keep working well in later life, suggests research published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Previous research indicates that inadequate vitamin D intake may be linked to poorer mental agility in the ageing brain, but the results have been inconsistent.
The researchers base their current findings on just over 3000 European men between the ages of 40 and 79, who were all part of the international European Male Ageing Study, drawn from eight different cities across Europe.

Their mental agility was assessed using a range of tests, designed to measure memory and speed of information processing as well as mood and physical activity levels, both of which affect mental agility.

Blood samples were then taken to measure circulating levels of vitamin D, which is obtained through dietary sources and by exposure to sunlight.

High circulating vitamin D levels were associated with high scores on the memory and information processing tests, but after adjusting for mood and physical activity, the association remained for only one of the two information processing tests.

Low vitamin D levels were associated with poor scores, with levels of 35 nmol/litre or under marking the threshold of poorer performance.

Experimental data point to the biological plausibility for an association between low circulating levels of vitamin D and poorer mental agility, but exactly how the two might be connected is not clear, say the authors.

Possible suggestions include vitamin D’s role in increasing certain hormonal activity or the protection of neurones and chemical signalling pathways.

The findings show that the magnitude of the association between vitamin D level and mental agility was comparatively small, say the authors.

But if it were possible to stave off the effects of ageing on the brain with vitamin D supplements, then the implications for population health could be quite significant, they contend, because many people, particularly in older age, arevitamin D deficient.