Sleep deprivation exists when we are not getting sleep we need. This varies from person to person, average adult requires six to nine hours per night, but some do well on much less. Kids and teenagers require more sleep than adults.

If we feel energetic during day and do not experience daytime sleepiness, then we are probably receiving adequate sleep.

Public awareness of fitness and nutrition has grown over past few years but unfortunately little is known about very important subject of sleep disorders. They are not included in general medical training either so lack of knowledge is perpetuated.

If drowsiness were sole disadvantage of sleep deprivation, it would not be such a serious condition. Unfortunately consequences are many and some of them quite worrying. There are both behavioral and physical symptoms.

Why do we suffer with sleep deprivation? Sometimes its because we're so busy that we just don't have sufficient time to get rest we need. Or maybe its because we have insomnia or one of other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome. Or we may be a shift worker who is forced to sleep during day and our sleep is not restful. Whatever reason is, if we don't have adequate sleep we create a "sleep debt" which leads to some or all of symptoms shown below.

These range from inconvenient to downright dangerous so if you can see yourself in symptoms below, its worth trying to establish what is causing your sleep deprivation we can then work out and how to address it.

Stress and anxiety

Although health and healing are common goals of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and allopathic medicine, their ideas on etiology of disease, disease itself and process used to regain health are decidedly different. The allopathic physician learns that disease must be cured by prescribing medicine, which kills bacteria or renders a virus ineffective; at times surgical intervention is a necessity.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach. It often works. The question worth exploring is why TCM succeeds where allopathic medicine fails? What is mechanism of action of acupuncture and herbal medicine, which results in palliation or cure that is not manifest in biomedicine?

Though goal of TCM is to cure a patient, doctor of TCM attempts to do this not by treating disease but rather by treating whole person, taking into account various attributes of an individual which, when combined, account for an individual being sick or healthy. A person, according to tenets of TCM is more than their pathology. While treating pathology may yield impressive results, they are commonly temporary.

A person is not, according to TCM, represented solely by his or her illness, but by accumulation of every human interaction engaged in from moment of birth, including values of and culture from which individual develops. The emotional experiences, eating habits, work habits, work and living environment, personal habits and social milieu are factors that contribute to disease and are factors which, when modified appropriately may lead to regained health.

Though Western scientific community has not, to date, arrived at a methodology to use in research of Chinese medicine, veracity and efficaciousness of this medical modality is nonetheless proved by its long history of continued success. More than a quarter of world's population regularly uses TCM as part of their health care regimen. Chinese medicine is only form of classical medicine, which is regularly and continuously used outside of its country of origin.

THE FOUR EXAMINATIONS

The 'Four Examinations' is a method of diagnosis which dates back over three thousand years. Observing, Listening and Smelling (Listening and Smelling are counted as one of Four Examinations), Questioning and Palpating make up 'Four Examinations'. This method of diagnosis is far from simplistic, allowing practitioner to arrive at a differential diagnosis.

Each of "Four Examinations" can take years to master, and while these diagnostic tools are not replacements for that which Western medicine can provide in analyzing and treating disease, they have ability to offer information which, when understood in context of TCM, provides additional opportunities in mapping out patterns of disease and arriving at greater treatment success.

The doctor of TCM must approach a patient with a clear and calm mind, without a preconceived diagnosis and etiology. This mind-set will enable practitioner to yield clinical gems which are clues about individual who sits before us! This is stuff of TCM.