Acupuncture for Insomnia: Early Research
In a sham-controlled study involving 60 adult subjects reporting insomnia for 3 or more nights per week for a period of at least 3 months, treatment with acupuncture (electroacupuncture), 3 times per week for a period of 3 weeks, was found to improve sleep.
Subjects were divided into 2 groups. One group received real acupuncture (electroacupuncture at points: Yin Tang, DU-20, bilateral ear Shen Men, Sishencong, Anmian), while the other group received a sham treatment (“placebo acupuncture†at the same acupuncture points with Streitberger needles that do not pierce through the skin). As compared to pre-treatment, subjects in both groups reported significant improvements in sleep.
Improvements were measured according to sleep diaries, 3-day actigraphy, self-reported questionnaires, and scores on the Insomnia Severity Index. Subjects who received real acupuncture were found to have significantly greater improvement, assessed via sleep diary and actigraphy. Moreover, a significantly greater percentage of subjects in the real acupuncture group were found to have sleep efficiency of 85% or greater, and a significantly greater percentage were found to have less than 30 minutes of wake after onset of sleep.
These results suggest that acupuncture may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with primary insomnia – a debilitating disorder that has wide-ranging adverse implications. The authors conclude, “Because of some limitations of the current study, further studies are necessary to verify the effectiveness of acupuncture for insomnia.”
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2717194/
Other research studies persuasively show acupuncture to have clear benefits for insomnia as well.
Acupuncture For Insomnia: More Recent Research
A plethora of research studies into the benefits of acupuncture for insomnia have been conducted more recently.
A 2013 study on the efficacy of acupuncture for primary insomnia concludes that, “The results of the present trial showed that all treatments were effective compared with pretreatment baseline. Improvements of sleep quality, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, daytime functioning achieved in the verum group were well maintained to follow-up, whereas the effect of sham acupuncture and estazolam was not significant when the intervention ended.”
Moreover, a 2019 Psychology Today review of acupuncture for insomnia tells us how “Research findings suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment of insomnia related to mental health problems such as generalized anxiety and schizophrenia. ”
There are countless other research studies and reviews that we needn’t mention here, but when it comes to the effectiveness of acupuncture for insomnia, we can safely say it brings clear, persuasive benefits.