The Point Map 穴位
Pressure Points for Sleep 安眠
“Three points, pressed slowly in the dark, ask nothing and cost nothing. On the nights the mind won't file itself away, they are a kind ritual — and ritual is half of sleep.”
— Lao Xinglin
The bedtime circuit
- HT7 — Shenmen (神门), "spirit gate": on the wrist crease, palm up, directly below the little finger in the hollow beside the tendon. The tradition's front door for a restless spirit[1]; press softly a minute per wrist.
- Anmian (安眠), "peaceful sleep": behind the ear, in the hollow between the earlobe's back and the skull's base muscle — the point literally named for the job. Small slow circles.
- KD1 — Yongquan (涌泉), "bubbling spring": the sole of the foot, in the crease behind the ball when toes curl. The tradition's anchor — drawing the day's risen heat back down[1]; thumb-knead each foot, which is also simply pleasant.
Slow breath out longer than in, lights already low, phone already elsewhere. Done nightly, the circuit becomes a cue — and cues are how sleep is trained.
What the evidence says
Small trials of auricular and body acupressure for insomnia exist and lean positive, but nothing yet rigorous enough to promise on — the honest label is "safe ritual with plausible mechanics." What is well-established is that consistent wind-down routines improve sleep; this one has the advantage of being screen-free by construction.
Pairings from the other halls
The cabinet's sleep drawer holds suan zao ren — the tradition's seed for the tired-but-wired night — and the body clock explains why the 1–3 a.m. waking gets read as a liver matter. Persistent insomnia, snoring with gasps, or sleepiness that endangers your days: those are for a clinician, not a fingertip.
References
- Kaptchuk, The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2000. ↩
Reviewed 2026-08-26