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Can Electric Potential Therapy Help You Get Better Sleep?

Electric Potential Therapy

An image of a woman receiving electric therapyElectric potential therapy uses a device that produces negative ions and electric energy. It activates, or reactivates, many different types of cells in your body. This can help with circulation, immunity, cell and tissue repair, and metabolism. The devices use alternating currents that induce a negatively-charged low-voltage static electric field.

It was invented by the Japanese professor, Dr. Toshiyuki Hara A.C., in 1928. Since then, it has been tested and developed further as an alternative and complementary therapy that has almost no side-effects. It has since been a certified treatment in different Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan.

Benefits of Electric Potential Therapy

Some of the purported benefits of electric potential therapy include:

  • Regulating the albumin/globulin ratio in the blood
  • Increasing the bodyā€™s adaptability
  • Improving sleep
  • Regulating endocrine functions
  • Improving memory
  • Beautifying the skin
  • Increasing calcium, sodium, and gamma globulin levels in the blood
  • Reducing albumin, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus levels in the blood
  • Regulating the cerebral cortex
  • Toning the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
  • Reducing mental and physical fatigue
  • Improving focus
  • Burning fat
  • Reducing stress

In this therapy, you will be exposed to an electromagnetic field with a high voltage, low current, and low-frequency alternating current. The electric field will promote the negatively and positively charged particles in your cells and interstitial (extracellular) fluid. This will help your body regain a balance in its bioelectricity, allowing for improved homeostasis.

Some conditions that this therapy can help with include:

  • Hypertension
  • Bronchial asthma
  • Diabetes
  • Neurasthenia
  • Coronary heart disease
  • Insomnia
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Psoriasis
  • Menopause
  • Constipation
  • Disorders that cause facial pain
  • Cervical spondylosis
  • Cerebral infarction
  • Cerebral insufficiency

How Electric Potential Therapy is Done

An electric potential therapy session is usually done in five steps. They are:

Step 1:

You sit on an insulating chair with a cushion that is hooked up to the machine. The machine is placed on a dry, insulating table that is at least 20 cm away from any walls or the floor. The machine has to be a meter away from the cushion youā€™ll sit on. You place your feet on an insulating mat in front of the chair.

Step 2:

The machine is then connected to electricity. According to your condition and needs, the technician will choose the most suitable output to plug it into.

Step 3:

The technician will then select the time for the session and input that into the machine. Sessions are between 30-90 minutes long.

Step 4:

The technician will select the voltage suitable for you. The three grades are 5000V, 7000V, and 9000V. There is also the option of having the device itself select the voltage, and the technician just selects the timing, usually of 30 minutes.

Step 5:

Youā€™re now ready to begin the session. The technician will press the on button, and your job is to sit and relax through the process.

Adrenal Fatigue and Electric Potential Therapy

We donā€™t have any direct evidence of electric potential therapy benefiting those with adrenal fatigue and the dysregulation of the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. But, based on what we do know about it, it is possible to make a few educated guesses about its benefits.

Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) is a condition that arises if youā€™re facing chronic stress. Chronic stress can be physical or psychological, and they often come together. Your adrenal glands have to work overtime to produce your bodyā€™s main anti-stress hormone, cortisol. And as cortisol increases to meet the growing demand, you get symptoms of AFS. And then when your adrenals are so exhausted that they canā€™t produce enough cortisol anymore, AFS symptoms intensify.

Symptoms of adrenal fatigue include fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, brain fog, anxiety, mild depression, low libido, PMS, infertility, hair loss, dry skin, hypoglycemia, salt and sugar cravings, lowered immunity, heart palpitations, unstable blood pressure, food and drug sensitivities, and an inability to handle stress.

One of the reasons that these symptoms are so varied is that they are linked to your NEM. Your adrenals are actually your NEMā€™s first line of defense against stress, and they are a component of the NEMā€™s Hormone circuit. When they dysregulate, they will affect the rest of the NEM as well. The other NEM circuits are the Bioenergetics, the Cardionomic, the Neuroaffect, the Inflammation, and the Detoxification circuits.

Following the benefits of electric potential therapy stated above, we can surmise that many AFS symptoms can be helped both directly or indirectly by this therapy. For example, the brain fog can be directly helped by the therapyā€™s ability to improve focus and memory, as well as reducing mental fatigue. Indirectly, its ability to help you get better sleep and reduce your stress can also impact your mental clarity and strength.

In fact, one of the most promising effects of electric potential therapy is its ability to allow you to get better quality sleep.

AFS and Sleep

An image of a fatigued personProper sleep is one of the cornerstones of good health. While you sleep, your body has the chance to rest and repair, and to replenish your energy stores. One of the most challenging aspects of adrenal fatigue and the dysregulation of the NEM is insomnia. And with AFS, you can get two types of insomnia: sleep-onset and sleep-maintenance. Both of these occur due to when you have a rush of cortisol that wakes you up.

Sleep-onset insomnia is when you canā€™t fall asleep, even if youā€™re tired. You toss and turn but just canā€™t seem to get there. You may eventually do it, but itā€™s pretty late by then and doesnā€™t allow you a full nightā€™s rest.

Sleep-maintenance insomnia is where youā€™re able to fall asleep, but then wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes more than once. Then you may also have a hard time going back to sleep. This makes the quality of your sleep low, as you can never truly reach a state of deep sleep.

How Electric Potential Therapy Can Help with Sleep

One study tested electric potential therapy on a group of college students with sleep disorders, with another group of college students was given a sham treatment. The ones receiving the electric potential therapy were exposed to 50-Hz, 18 kV for 30 minutes a day for five days.

In the group receiving the real treatment, they showed improvement in the length of sleep, how refreshed they felt, and how sleepy they were upon rising. These improvements were significantly higher in the group receiving the real treatment than the group receiving the sham treatment. Also, the electric potential therapy group showed improvement in the duration of awakening in the middle of the night.

This means that the therapy could be useful for the two different types of insomnia you can suffer from when you have AFS. You may be able to fall asleep easier, stay asleep longer, and feel more refreshed upon awakening.

Implications for the Rest of the NEM

As noted above, the reason adrenal fatigue can have such variety in symptoms is because it is linked to the overall NEM stress response. The NEM is your bodyā€™s global response to stress, and itā€™s composed of many different organs and systems that work together in the fight against stress. Depending on which of its six circuits is most affected, you will experience those corresponding symptoms.

So, for example, if your Cardionomic circuit is the most affected, youā€™ll get symptoms like unstable or high blood pressure, heart palpitations, pounding heart, etc. If your Inflammation circuit is the one most affected, you might experience digestive issues, joint pain, pain of unknown origin, brain fog, and mild depression as the inflammation travels to your brain and central nervous system.

Thatā€™s why itā€™s always better to catch AFS early on. That way, the domino effect it has on the rest of the NEM is limited. Unfortunately, most people donā€™t find out about AFS or get the support they need until itā€™s already quite advanced.

And although the symptoms of AFS and the dysregulation of the NEM can be so complex, the recovery process is quite straight forward. It involves changing your diet and lifestyle and taking an individualized regiment of gentle nutrients. Adding some types of alternative and complementary therapies, such as electric potential therapy, may be useful. But, this is where you need to take note of a very important precaution.

Precautions When Considering Electric Potential Therapy

An image of a woman talking to her doctor about electric potential therapyWhen you have AFS, especially in the more advanced stages, your entire system is fragile. Your adrenal glands cannot handle any more stress. So, without being sure how this therapy can affect such a fragile body, we donā€™t know if it will help or harm you. We see this all the time: a therapy or supplement that usually helps in most cases might lead to an adrenal crash or a paradoxical reaction in an adrenal fatigue patient.

Paradoxical reactions are outcomes opposite of what the therapy or supplement is meant to do. If you are using electric potential therapy to help you get better sleep, a paradoxical reaction would be an aggravation of your insomnia. If youā€™re using it to reduce your stress, you might find your anxiety levels increasing instead.

So now the question is: should you try it anyway?

First of all, we advise you donā€™t do any kind of therapy or recovery program without proper supervision. This means you definitely shouldnā€™t try electric potential therapy at home or at a clinic that doesnā€™t know about AFS.

Secondly, only try it if your AFS is not in the advanced stages, like adrenal exhaustion or adrenal failure. During such stages, you need to rely only on the tried and true recovery methods. Those include eating an adrenal fatigue diet, doing gentle breathing exercises, practicing sleep hygiene, and taking gentle nutrients given to you by your adrenal fatigue specialist.

And lastly, you may find it difficult to access this therapy, as it is much more popular in certain Asian countries, and not globally. So, itā€™s better to rely on therapies and recovery programs that are more accessible to you on a regular basis.

Conclusion

Electric potential therapy is a type of therapy that employs electricity to energize your cells. It comes from Japan and is popular in certain Asian countries. It has almost no side-effects and is purported to help with sleep, stress, weight loss, skin, and a few chronic conditions as well. Many symptoms of adrenal fatigue and the dysregulation of the NEM are symptoms that this therapy claims to help.

For adrenal fatigue patients, we advise you do not try it without the green light from an adrenal fatigue specialist. And actually, if you are in the more advanced stages of AFS, itā€™s best to avoid it altogether. You may end up with an adrenal crash or a paradoxical reaction.

Any treatment steps you take should be done under the supervision of a medical professional, even if the treatment or recovery program is all-natural and safe. If you donā€™t, at best it might not be as effective, at worst, it might harm you.

Have Questions?

If youā€™re unsure about any type of therapy youā€™re considering, we can help you decide. The Dr. Lam Coaching team can offer you a free** no-obligation phone consultation at +1-626-571-1234 where we will privately discuss your symptoms and what your options are. You can also send us a question through our Ask The Doctor system by clicking here.

Ā© Copyright 2021 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. Lam's Key Question

Electric potential therapy is a type of therapy that uses electricity to energize your bodyā€™s cells. This reduces stress, improves mental focus, and even helps with the symptoms of many chronic conditions. It comes from Japan and is popular in many Asian countries. But there are precautions to consider.

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