In traditional Chinese medicine worry, anxiety, insomnia, excessive dreaming and poor memory are all connected with your emotions, stress and digestive health.

Insomnia refers to a number of different problems including the inability to fall asleep easily, waking during the night, sleeping restlessly, waking up early in the morning and dream disturbed sleep. Whilst acupuncture and herbs are very helpful to manage stress and modulate the bodies functions the amount and quality of your sleep is also greatly affected by the amount of stress in your life and having the correct balance of foods in your diet.

Everyone knows that emotional stress affects mental and physical health, it keeps our mind active at night causing overthinking, worry, and anxiety that affects our quality of sleep and energy levels.

Lack of sleep and sleeping at the wrong time of day affects the balance of serotonin and melatonin hormones that control your circadian (Sleep) rhythm, worsening the problem.

What many people don't realise is that your digestive health affects your mental health, ability to manage stress and can lead to feelings of anxiety and unexplained patterns of worry.

Scientists now call the gut your second brain. About 90 percent of the nerve fibres in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. So an unhappy gut could actually be the reason why you're lying awake worrying or feeling anxious at night.

The link between diet, stress, lifestyle and sleep quality is really obvious when someone is working nightshifts, skipping meals and eating junk food . By simply restoring the correct balance to your diet it is possible to influence your mood, your mental health, your physical health, and improve your sleep.

Insomnia or sleep difficulties also affect people who on the surface seem to have a healthy work life balance and seem to be eating a healthy diet with lots of fruit and vegetable, for them the problem is also one of balance - eating the right foods at the right time is very important to maintaining blood sugar balance and this is one of he main reasons people wake in the night, as they do not have enough fuel to stabilise their blood sugar for long periods without eating.

When I sit down with someone and we look at what their lifestyle and diet is like. We often find it is heavily weighted in one food category with essential foods limited or missing. I find that there is so much information available about what a healthy diet is, people are confused. It is often overlooked that we are each unique and even something healthy like a tomato can be good for one person and then cause a food sensitivity, digestive problem or sleep issues for another.

If you are finding worry or anxiety keeping you awake at night taking a holistic approach considering your emotions, stress, diet and lifestyle will give you the information and the action steps you need to restore your sleep and recover.

If you have any questions on what the right approach is for you please get in touch I am looking forward to speaking to you. Amanda Roe is an Acupuncturist, Clinical hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach. For more information or to book a FREE15min consultation with Amanda click here.