Insomnia

Stage 1 (Weeks 1–4): Diagnoses such as Heart-Gallbladder Deficiency and Fear, Heart-Spleen Yang Deficiency, and Heart-Kidney Discord are confirmed through tongue, pulse, and questioning, and customized herbal medicine is prescribed. Acupuncture treatment (wrist area, inner ankle, inner wrist, crown area, etc.) is performed twice a week. Stage 2 (Weeks 5–8): Sleep diary data is reviewed to evaluate improvements in sleep latency and sleep efficiency, and the prescription is fine-tuned. Stage 3 (Weeks 9–12): Once symptoms stabilize, the frequency of acupuncture is reduced to once a week, the dosage of herbal medicine is decreased, and sleep hygiene education is conducted to prevent recurrence. At Dongjedang Korean Medicine Clinic, we share target indicators for each treatment stage with the patient. We set treatment goals as a sleep latency of within 30 minutes, one awakening or fewer during the night, and a sleep efficiency of 85% or higher, and check the achievement of these goals every two weeks. Patients taking concomitant sleeping pills begin gradual dose reduction in Stage 3.