No energy and sleepy all the time

What Is Cupping Therapy? Uses, Benefits, Side Effects, and More

Written by Rick Ansorge

Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage.

The cups may be made of:

Glass
Bamboo
Earthenware
Silicone

Cupping therapy might be trendy now, but it’s not new. It dates back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern cultures. One of the oldest medical textbooks in the world, the Ebers Papyrus, describes how the ancient Egyptians used cupping therapy in 1,550 B. C.

Types

There are different methods of cupping, including:

During both types of cupping, your therapist will put a flammable substance such as alcohol, herbs, or paper in a cup and set it on fire. As the fire goes out, they put the cup upside down on your skin.

As the air inside the cup cools, it creates a vacuum. This causes your skin to rise and redden as your blood vessels expand. The cup is generally left in place for up to 3 minutes.

A more modern version of cupping uses a rubber pump instead of fire to create the vacuum inside the cup. Sometimes therapists use silicone cups, which they can move from place to place on your skin for a massage-like effect.

Wet cupping creates a mild suction by leaving a cup in place for about 3 minutes. The therapist then removes the cup and uses a small scalpel to make light, tiny cuts on your skin. Next, they do a second suction to draw out a small quantity of blood.

You might get 3-5 cups in your first session. Or you might just try one to see how it goes. It’s rare to get more than 5-7 cups, the British Cupping Society notes.

Afterward, you may get an antibiotic ointment and bandage to prevent infection. Your skin should look normal again within 10 days.

Cupping therapy supporters believe that wet cupping removes harmful substances and toxins from the body to promote healing. But that’s not proven.

Some people also get “needle cupping,” in which the therapist first inserts acupuncture needles and then puts cups over them.

What Does the Research Show?

There haven’t been many scientific studies on cupping.

One report, published in 2015 in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, notes that it could help with acne, herpes zoster, and pain management.

That’s similar to the findings from a 2012 report, published in PLoS One. Australian and Chinese researchers reviewed 135 studies on cupping. They concluded that cupping therapy may be effective when people also get other treatments, like acupuncture or medications, for various diseases and conditions, such as:

Herpes zoster
Acne
Facial paralysis
Cervical spondylosis

But those researchers noted many of the studies they reviewed could have been biased and that better studies are needed.

The British Cupping Society says that cupping therapy is used to treat:

Blood disorders such as anemia and hemophilia
Rheumatic diseases such as arthritis and fibromyalgia
Fertility and gynecological disorders
Skin problems such as eczema and acne
High blood pressure
Migraines
Anxiety and depression
Bronchial congestion caused by allergies and asthma
Varicose veins

There isn’t research to back all of that up.

Side Effects

Cupping is fairly safe, as long as you go to a trained health professional. But you could have these side effects in the area where the cups touch your skin:

Mild discomfort
Burns
Bruises
Skin infection

If the cups and equipment become contaminated with blood and are not sterilized correctly between patients, bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis B and C can be spread.

What to Ask Your Doctor First

Talk with your doctor before you start cupping or any other type of alternative or complementary medicine. And talk extensively with your cupping therapist, too, before you try it. Ask:

What conditions do they use cupping for?
What is your training?
What is your experience in using it?
Am I already getting the standard treatments for my condition?
Are there reasons I should not get cupping?

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10 Tips To Get You Sleeping Again

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

If you are suffering from insomnia, there are many steps you can take to change behaviors and lifestyle to help you get to sleep. Here are some tips for beating insomnia.

Wake up at the same time each day. It is tempting to sleep late on weekends, especially if you have had poor sleep during the week. However, if you suffer from insomnia you should get up at the same time every day in order to train your body to wake at a consistent time.
Eliminate alcohol and stimulants like nicotine and caffeine. The effects of caffeine can last for several hours, perhaps up to 24 hours, so the chances of it affecting sleep are significant. Caffeine may not only cause difficulty initiating sleep, but may also cause frequent awakenings. Alcohol may have a sedative effect for the first few hours following consumption, but it can then lead to frequent arousals and a non-restful night's sleep. If you are on medications that act as stimulants, such as decongestants or asthma inhalers, ask your doctor when they should best be taken to help minimize any effect on sleep.
Limit naps. While napping seems like a proper way to catch up on missed sleep, it is not always so. It is important to establish and maintain a regular sleep pattern and train oneself to associate sleep with cues like darkness and a consistent bedtime. Napping can affect the quality of nighttime sleep.
Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can improve sleep quality and duration. However, exercising immediately before bedtime can have a stimulant effect on the body and should be avoided. Try to finish exercising at least three hours before you plan to retire for the night.
Limit activities in bed. The bed is for sleeping and having sex and that's it. If you suffer from insomnia, do not balance the checkbook, study, or make phone calls, for example, while in bed or even in the bedroom, and avoid watching television or listening to the radio. All these activities can increase alertness and make it difficult to fall asleep.
Do not eat or drink right before going to bed. Eating a late dinner or snacking before going to bed can activate the digestive system and keep you up. If you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) or heartburn, it is even more important to avoid eating and drinking right before bed since this can make your symptoms worse. In addition, drinking a lot of fluids prior to bed can overwhelm the bladder, requiring frequent visits to the bathroom that disturb your sleep.
Make your sleeping environment comfortable. Temperature, lighting, and noise should be controlled to make the bedroom conducive to falling (and staying) asleep. Your bed should feel comfortable and if you have a pet that sleeps in the room with you, consider having the pet sleep somewhere else if it tends to make noise in the night.
Get all your worrying over with before you go to bed. If you find you lay in bed thinking about tomorrow, consider setting aside a period of time -- perhaps after dinner -- to review the day and to make plans for the next day. The goal is to avoid doing these things while trying to fall asleep. It is also useful to make a list of, say, work-related tasks for the next day before leaving work. That, at least, eliminates one set of concerns.
Reduce stress. There are a number of relaxation therapies and stress reduction methods you may want to try to relax the mind and the body before going to bed. Examples include progressive muscle relaxation (perhaps with audio tapes), deep breathing techniques, imagery, meditation, and biofeedback.
Consider participating in cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy helps some people with insomnia identify and correct inappropriate thoughts and beliefs that may contribute to insomnia. In addition, cognitive therapy can give you the proper information about sleep norms, age-related sleep changes, and help set reasonable sleep goals, among other things.

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Why do you constantly want to sleep and overcome fatigue?

Home - Useful information - Doctors advise - Why do you always want to sleep and overcome fatigue?

Cardiologist, internist at “Capital Clinic Riga” Santa Viltere answers

Sleepiness and fatigue can have several causes. Some of them are completely harmless and quickly eliminated (overload, lack of sleep, etc.), but others, such as anemia, are very serious. Therefore, if a person is constantly sleepy and tired, and at the same time these phenomena are not of a seasonal nature, you should definitely consult a doctor in order to establish the cause of prolonged fatigue and eliminate it as quickly as possible. In the dark season, when we get too little sunlight, vitamins, and at the same time our strength is taken away by viruses and flu, fatigue is more likely to appear. The reason is the lack of sunlight, when the body, with the onset of the dark season, intensively begins to produce melatonin (a hormone that regulates the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness) and already automatically adapts to “winter hibernation”. This has a significant effect on the body. Also, an additional load on the circulatory system and increased feelings of fatigue create temperature fluctuations. With the approach and onset of winter, a person becomes physically less active, food, especially on holidays, becomes more fatty, unhealthy, we eat a lot of sweets and overeat. Due to the lack of sunlight, less vitamin D is produced, which affects our immune system.

It may seem impossible, but fatigue is often associated with insufficient iron in the body. A person does not feel a gradual decrease in hemoglobin levels, so iron deficiency in the body should be checked regularly. Unfortunately, it has been established that anemia affects a large part of society, while - mainly women - they are so used to this phenomenon that they do not even pay attention to it until severe anemia develops, and thus cause significant harm to their health and quality of life. It is very important to identify and clarify the causes of anemia. If there are not enough irreplaceable sources of iron - meat, especially beef, liver, eggs (yolk), apricots, pomegranates (also juice), legumes, spinach, the doctor prescribes iron-containing preparations.

Existing anemia cannot be compensated by diet alone, in which case treatment is necessary. This requires patience and time, as the treatment takes an average of 4-6 months. Treatment usually begins with oral medications (tablets, capsules, syrups). The introduction of intravenous iron-containing preparations is more effective, but also more expensive, since it is necessary to receive at least 10-20 injections. The cause of fatigue can also be psycho-emotional stress, stress, overwork. This phenomenon differs from anemia in that after rest, adequate sleep, recuperation, fatigue recedes, and the person feels alert again. The fact that in the spring and autumn a person is overcome by fatigue, the mood deteriorates, is quite normal, but if the condition becomes prolonged, you should consult a doctor. The specialist usually recommends techniques on how a person can help himself.

Adequate exposure to fresh air, outdoor exercise, ventilate rooms frequently;
Be physically active;
Think about what you eat. It is especially important to eat varied and balanced, especially to emphasize vegetables, fruits and greens in the diet;
Allocate daylight hours for physical activities and nutrition;
Replace a hot shower with a contrast shower, always finishing with a jet of cold water;
Be sure to take time for yourself and rest, multiplying positive emotions.

Why you constantly want to sleep, causes of lethargy and drowsiness

Causes of the pathological condition:

1. Nervous exhaustion.
One of the most common causes of lethargy and excessive sleepiness. Frequent stress, lack of sleep, mental and physical strain sooner or later lead to nervous exhaustion and chronic fatigue syndrome, whose companions are always fatigue, lethargy and drowsiness.

2. Starvation and beriberi.
Lack of nutrients leads to impaired blood supply to tissues, and subsequently the level of hemoglobin decreases, anemia develops. Erythrocytes, red blood cells, under such conditions carry less oxygen to the cells and tissues of the body than they need.

3. Vegetovascular dystonia.
People with a similar condition, especially of the hypotonic type (with low blood pressure), often feel weak, atypically tired, and apathetic.

4. Endocrine diseases:
- diabetes mellitus,
- decreased thyroid function (hypothyroidism),
- obesity.

5. Changes in hormonal levels in women at:
- menopause,
- premenstrual m syndrome,
- in the third trimester of pregnancy.

6. Taking certain medications.
Many drugs cause drowsiness such as:
- hypotensive, that is, lowering blood pressure;
- tranquilizers and antipsychotics,
- sedative preparations,
- antihistamines (anti-allergen ),
- statins (lowering blood cholesterol),
- some hormonal contraceptives, etc.

7. Lowering the ambient temperature.
Due to the low temperature, blood circulation slows down, as a result of which the brain receives insufficient oxygen and nutrients.

8. Mental illness:
- depression (including latent),
- schizophrenia,
- psychoses.

9. Pathological lethargy and drowsiness often accompany serious diseases and conditions, such as:
- poisoning,
- chronic hypoxia (lack of oxygen) of the brain,
- leukemias,
- liver damage (hepatitis, liver failure) ,
- renal failure,
- oncological diseases,
- injuries and tumors of the brain, etc.

With the appearance of unusual drowsiness and constant fatigue, it is worth listening to your body. First of all, you should try to adjust your daily routine, try to sleep at least 8 hours a day and avoid stress. Proper nutrition is also of great importance: the diet should contain nutritious food with sufficient vitamins and minerals, cereals, vegetables and fruits.