Acupuncture outperformed both placebo and conventional pain therapies - including pharmaceutical drugs - in a new study conducted by researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York from numerous universities in Germany and England. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The findings "provide the most robust evidence to date that acupuncture is a reasonable referral option," the authors wrote.

Having trouble sleeping? Don't resort to a prescription solution; try a little acupuncture, the Chinese-developed treatment for a host of health-related issues.

First things first, however. In order to best treat your insomnia, you need to figure out why you're experiencing it.

"Although insomnia is the most common sleep complaint, it is not a single sleep disorder. It's more accurate to think of insomnia as a symptom of another problem. The problem causing the insomnia differs from person to person," says HelpGuide.org.

What kind of stressors do you have in your life? Can you manage them better? What about your eating habits - do you like to eat heavy meals late, like within an hour of going to bed? Do you drink too much caffeine throughout the day? Each of these can cause you to lose sleep. "The good news is that most cases of insomnia can be cured with changes you can make on your own - without relying on sleep specialists or turning to prescription or over-the-counter sleeping pills," HelpGuide.org advises.