People can get by with a night or two of little to no sleep without significant cognitive impairment. However, chronic sleep problems like insomnia cannot only slow your mental and physical processes but it can also be detrimental to your health in the long run. While you can use over the counter and prescription sleep medications, do you really want to go through eventual withdrawals or that “drugged out” feeling? Electromagnetic wave therapy, sometimes called electronic acupuncture, is a great complementary self-treatment to consider for insomnia.
Causes of Insomnia
A variety of causes contribute to insomnia. Perhaps you are going through a stressful time at work or there has been a death in the family. Current medications you are taking can contribute too. Health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and heart ailments can all contribute to insomnia as well. Anxiety, a change in your daily schedule, the use of alcohol or caffeine before bed and even late night meals and snacks are contributors.
Melatonin is typically low in the morning but it gradually increases levels over the course of the day so that you become tired when you are supposed to and then fall asleep. If your circadian rhythm is thrown off in the slightest, your melatonin levels can fluctuate. Electronic acupuncture can help you re-establish a sleep pattern so you can get some sleep.
Understanding Electromagnetic Wave Therapy
View electromagnetic wave therapy as the electronic version of the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture. Instead of visiting a practitioner of acupuncture and getting stuck with dozens of needles, you can self-treat with a hand-held device. A wand delivers electromagnetic wave impulses to special acupoints on the left hand and palm that correspond with the sleep centers of the brain. Imagine multiple pathways running through your body carrying life-sustaining energy, a belief the ancient Chinese based acupuncture on. What happens if one of those pathways becomes blocked?
Some type of health condition, like insomnia, occurs. Electromagnetic wave impulses delivered by the electronic acupuncture device can break up those blockages. Devices like this come with an intricately detailed hand and palm map which indicates corresponding body functions. For instance, on the inside thumb area just above the first crease and the outside of the pinkie just below the cuticle are two key areas to stimulate to help break up the energy blockages preventing a normal night’s sleep. These blockages are the likely culprits preventing the pineal gland from properly producing and releasing melatonin. Be sure to get a doctor’s health evaluation first to determine if you have a specific health condition that is causing your insomnia. Sometimes, electronic acupuncture is best as a complementary treatment for insomnia rather than the only treatment.
Electromagnetic stimulation (EMS) is a non-invasive treatment that uses electromagnetic fields to contract and relax muscles. The therapy is used to relieve pain, improve muscle strength and endurance, and promote healing in conditions such as muscle strains, sprains, and injuries. It can also be used to improve athletic performance and as a form of physical therapy or as an adjunct to other types of therapy.
Electromagnetic Stimulation
EMS has been used for centuries, with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all using forms of electrical therapy to treat a variety of ailments. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that EMS began to be used for muscle stimulation. In the 1920s and 1930s, a Russian physiologist named Dr. Vladimir Marek began using EMS to treat muscle weakness and paralysis. By the 1950s, EMS had become a popular treatment in Europe and the United States for a variety of conditions, including muscle pain and weakness, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis.
How it works
EMS therapy works by delivering electromagnetic fields to the muscles through a device that generates electromagnetic waves. These waves cause the muscle to contract and relax, which can help to relieve pain, improve muscle strength and endurance, and promote healing. The intensity of the electromagnetic fields can be adjusted to suit the individual needs of the patient, and the therapy can be used to target specific muscle groups or to stimulate the entire body.
EMS therapy can be delivered in a variety of ways, including through a handheld device, a pad that is placed on the skin, or a mat that the patient lies on. The electromagnetic fields can be delivered in a pulsed or continuous fashion, and the frequency of the fields can be adjusted to suit the individual needs of the patient.
Indications
EMS therapy is used to treat a variety of conditions including muscle pain and weakness, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis. It is also used to improve athletic performance, and may be used as a form of physical therapy or as an adjunct to other types of therapy. It has been used to help people with a number of conditions such as chronic pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and muscle spasms. EMS therapy is also used to improve muscle strength and endurance in people who have conditions that cause muscle weakness, such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, and certain types of muscular dystrophy. It is also used to help people with certain types of paralysis, such as spinal cord injuries and stroke, to regain muscle function.
Athletic Performance
EMS therapy has been used to improve athletic performance by increasing muscle strength and endurance. It is also used to help athletes recover from injuries, such as muscle strains and sprains. The electromagnetic fields delivered during EMS therapy can help to increase blood flow to the muscles, which can help to speed up the healing process.
Physical Therapy
EMS therapy is often used as a form of physical therapy to help people recover from injuries, such as muscle strains and sprains. The therapy can help to relieve pain, improve muscle strength and endurance, and promote healing. Physical therapists may use EMS therapy as an adjunct to other forms of therapy, such as exercises and stretching.
Safety
EMS therapy is generally considered safe, but as with any treatment, there are some potential risks and side effects. The most common side effects are mild skin irritation and muscle soreness. These side effects are typically temporary and go away shortly after the therapy is discontinued.
It is important to note that people with certain medical conditions, such as heart problems, pacemakers, or metal implants, should not use EMS therapy.
Uses of the TMS
The treatment can be divided into two categories, the diagnostic and the therapeutic.
Therapeutic usage
Reports and studies have shown that TMS is effective in treating certain varieties of major depression. The devices are used to treat the depression disorder in United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union.
Therapeutic usage
The treatment is used to measure the activity and the functionality of certain brain circuits in humans. It is specifically designed to measure the transmission levels between the primary motor cortex to a specific muscle. This would furthermore evaluate the damage done in strokes, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease and spinal cord injuries.
How does TMS function?
The electromagnetic fields generated in the TMS would stimulate the brain and mimic the effects of an anti-depressant. The fields act like a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and essentially maximize the extracellular serotonin concentrations present in the brain. The FDA approved machine is placed over the brain and short focused magnetic pulses are transmitted through the skull. An electrical current is induced in the tissues. It is usually done without administering any type of sedative as it effectually targets only a specific area. The medical therapist would determine the threshold level of the patient. The treatment sessions usually last for about forty minutes.
This is an effective therapy for the patients who have severe side effects with anti-depressant medicines. Bearing in mind the other probabilities, the TMS is considered the safest. Research has shown that the patients undergoing TMS has a less probable chance of relapsing into depression.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS is a specialized treatment which is used to improve depression by using magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. TMS is the last resort of treating depression and is usually advised after all other treatments have failed to work.TMS treatment involves placing a large electromagnetic coil against patient’s scalp near the forehead. The electromagnet coil generates electric currents which stimulate the nerve cells adjoining in the region of the brain that controls our mood. This electric stimulation alters the way the part of the brain is working and this in turn eases the depression symptoms. In the initial stages, depression can be treated in its initial stage and be cured, but lack of surveillance or delay can result in acute psychological problem and the standard treatments will then cease to be effective.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, unlike deep brain stimulation or vagus nerve stimulation, does not require implantation of electrodes or any kind of surgery. In contrast to the electroconvulsive therapy, Transcranial magnetic stimulation does not need seizures or sedation with anesthesia. Transcranial The treatment is usually carried out on an outpatient basis at a doctor’s clinic. The patients need to undergo a series of treatment sessions for effective results. Usually, the TMS sessions are conducted five times a week and continue till four to six weeks. There are certain short-term side effects of Transcranial magnetic stimulation. These side effects are mild and gradually improve within first couple of weeks of the treatment. Some of the most common ones are discussed below –
• Discomfort at the scalp (site of stimulation)
• Headache
• Spasms or tingling of facial muscles
• Lightheadedness
Apart from these, there are certain uncommon side effects of the TMS treatment as well which are actually rare. These include-
Seizures
• Mania in patients who have bipolar disorder
• Hearing loss, in case there are inadequate protection given to ears during the treatment
Before the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation procedure starts off, the patient might need a small medical check-up. Certain health conditions do not allow the doctors to conduct the TMS treatment and below mentioned are some of the things which the patients should make the doctor aware of. TMS is not safe if-
• The patient is pregnant or thinking of conceiving.
• The patient has any medical devices implanted in his/her body.
• The patient is under any herbal supplements, over-the-counter medications or vitamin dosages. Inform the doctors about the dosages and how often you take them.
Apart from these, patients also need to inform the doctor about the history of mania or seizures (if any). The doctor should also be informed about any past surgeries or injuries as well as about other health problems.
The TMS therapy requires a little preparation but since it is not invasive or require anesthesia, it can be performed in a doctor’s office. The doctor will identify the best place to put the magnets on the patients’ head and then decide on the intensity of the magnetic energy as per the need. The treatment session lasts about forty minutes and the patient will be awake and alert during the session. The treatment might discomfort the patient during the session and even after it gets over, but this restlessness is a temporary after-effect. The patients can return to his/her daily activities after the session is over; even, he/she will not require anyone’s assistance to drive back home.