Acupuncture for insomnia
Fragmented nights, waking in the middle of the night, trouble finding rest: lack of sleep weighs on mood, concentration and health. It’s one of the reasons people bring to the clinic most often. Many come to find their way back, gently, to more restorative sleep.
First visit · 75 to 90 minutes Follow-up sessions · 60 to 70 minutes, depending on the practitioner
Open 7 days a week · Monday and Friday from 9 a.m.
Acupuncturists, members of the OAQReceipts issued on siteWhere does your night break?
Not every insomnia is alike, and the point in the night where sleep gives way is what tells them apart most clearly. Here are four situations often described in consultation.
- At bedtime
The mind won’t shut off
Falling asleep drags on. The thoughts of the day come back at the precise moment everything around you goes quiet.
- In the first half of the night
Light sleep, close to the surface
The slightest noise wakes you. Sleep is broken by starts, sometimes by waking with a jolt.
- In the middle of the night
The waking that returns at the same hour
Waking in the second half of the night, sometimes with heat or sweating, and thoughts that start up again straight away.
- In the early morning
A full night, an empty waking
You slept, to all appearances. But the night was full of dreams and you get up more tired than when you went to bed.
Several of these nights can follow one another in the same person, and the hour of a waking that keeps returning is a piece of information in itself. That’s what we try to pin down first in consultation: the rest of this page explains why the distinction changes the treatment, and twelve sleep-hygiene habits close it.
Acupuncture and insomnia: what we see in the clinic
People who consult for insomnia often describe light sleep, difficulty “switching off” the mind at bedtime, or waking that returns at the same hour every night. These accounts are not alike, and Chinese medicine takes care to tell them apart. It approaches them through the Shen, the spirit of the Heart, which must be able to “settle” for sleep to take hold.
Sleep as a movement of return
For Chinese medicine, sleeping is not a stop: it is a movement of return. By day, Qi circulates at the surface of the body, on its yang side; come evening, it must move inward, into the yin. The classical texts sum up insomnia in a phrase: yang “no longer enters the yin”. The spirit makes the same journey. At night the Shen withdraws into the Blood of the Heart, and the Hun, the spirit of the Liver, joins the Blood of the Liver: “when a person lies down, the Blood returns to the Liver”, says the Suwen. That’s where the classical image of the lamp comes from: the flame is the spirit; the oil is the Blood that carries it. When Blood or Yin are lacking, the flame wavers and wakefulness floats above sleep. When Heat joins in, the flame races, and sleep becomes restless or breaks off for whole nights.
Not one insomnia, but several
The consultation therefore starts by pinning down which insomnia is at play. Is falling asleep the difficulty, or staying asleep? At what hour does the waking happen? What shape are you in when you get up? When falling asleep drags on and light sleep is broken by starts, that suggests insufficient Heart Blood: wakefulness finds nowhere to settle. Waking in the second half of the night, with heat, night sweats and thoughts that start up again at once, points instead to the Heart-Kidney axis: Water no longer rises to cool the Fire. Sleep full of dreams that leaves you waking tired speaks of a Hun poorly anchored in the Liver Blood; waking with a start, a Gallbladder the tradition calls “timid”; restless sleep after a heavy meal, a Stomach still at work. “When the Stomach is not at peace, sleep is restless”, the Suwen already notes. Even the hour of a recurring waking is a piece of data: the meridian cycle assigns each organ a stretch of the night, the Liver between 1 and 3 a.m., the Lung between 3 and 5 a.m. These distinctions guide the choice of points.
Acupuncture aims to support this return to calm: settling what is agitated, nourishing what is lacking, bringing down what rises. Some points carry their function in their name, such as Anmian, “peaceful sleep”, behind the ear, or Shenmen, “spirit gate”, at the crease of the wrist. The usual pace is one session a week early in a course of care, adjusted as things evolve.
On the research side
On the research side, a recent randomized study using functional magnetic resonance imaging compared real acupuncture with sham acupuncture in people living with insomnia disorder: the treated group showed connectivity changes in brain networks associated with emotional regulation, with a trend towards improved anxiety and sleep efficiency (Jiang et al., 2024, PMID 39169368 (opens in a new tab)). These are preliminary results, and they do not replace a medical assessment when insomnia persists: acupuncture belongs here as a complement to care with your physician, never as a replacement.
Twelve habits that support sleep
Chinese medicine never separated sleep from the habits that prepare it. Long before sleep laboratories, the Yang Sheng tradition (“nourishing life”) already recommended a light evening meal, going to bed before 11 p.m. and keeping the feet warm. Today’s advice extends that same common sense. Here are twelve pieces of it.
A regular schedule
Going to bed and getting up at similar times, weekends included, helps the body clock find its rhythm.
A dark, quiet bedroom
Blackout curtains, earplugs or white noise as needed: less light and less noise make falling asleep easier.
Caffeine, early in the day
Coffee, tea, energy drinks and nicotine stimulate for a long time. Ideally, leave them aside from mid-afternoon on.
Exercise, at the right time
Moving during the day improves sleep; avoid intense effort in the two hours before bed.
Naps, in moderation
A short nap in the early afternoon can help; too long or too late, it eats into the night.
Medication, reviewed together
Some medications disturb sleep. Before changing how you take them, discuss it with your physician or pharmacist.
Alcohol in the evening
A drink may seem to help you fall asleep, but it fragments the second half of the night. Keep it limited in the evening.
A cool bedroom
A temperature around 18 to 20 °C makes falling asleep easier. A room that’s too warm works against deep sleep.
Screens and blue light
Screen light delays falling asleep. Put them away an hour before bed, or switch on a night mode.
A wind-down routine
Reading, slow breathing, gentle stretching: a calm ritual signals to the body that it’s time to slow down.
Daylight in the morning
Getting daylight early in the morning helps set the body clock and makes for better sleep come evening.
The bedroom, kept for sleep
Keeping the bed for sleep and intimacy strengthens the link between bedroom and rest. Work and screens belong elsewhere.
Your questions about sleep
How many sessions before I sleep better?
The usual pace is one session a week at the start of treatment, adjusted afterwards as things evolve. The number of sessions varies with the person and with the kind of insomnia, with no promise of results: it’s worked out with your acupuncturist from the first meeting.
Do I have to stop my sleeping pills to come in?
No, and above all not on your own initiative. Any change to your medication is something to discuss with your physician or your pharmacist. Acupuncture introduces no substance into the body: there’s no known pharmacological interaction. Still, do mention your treatments during the consultation.
Can acupuncture replace medical care for sleep?
No: it works alongside that care. Insomnia that persists, or that comes with marked snoring, pauses in breathing during the night, significant daytime drowsiness or psychological distress, deserves a medical assessment first.
Does it hurt?
The needles are far finer than an injection needle. The sensation is most often described as slight pressure, or as nothing at all.
Are sessions covered by insurance?
Acupuncture care given by a member of the Ordre des acupuncteurs du Québec is often deductible as a medical expense. A receipt is issued at every session; check your coverage with your insurer.
First acupuncture visit $110 (75 to 90 minutes)Follow-up session · adult $95 (60 to 70 minutes)Receipt issued on site. All rates
Two acupuncturists in the Plateau
Justin Lapointe
Acupuncturist · ownerMember of the OAQSees patients in the afternoon and early evening.
Jessica Chan
AcupuncturistMember of the OAQSees patients mostly in the morning, often on weekdays.
Who will see you
Both are members of the Ordre des acupuncteurs du Québec and practise at the same clinic. You choose when you book, and you can switch from one visit to the next.
Justin Lapointe
Acupuncturist · ownerMember of the OAQSees patients in the afternoon and early evening.
Jessica Chan
AcupuncturistMember of the OAQMostly mornings, often within the week.
Initial consultation or follow-up, in person in the Plateau-Mont-Royal. We take the time to listen before anything else.
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