Acupuncture helps Perimenopausal Insomnia

Acupuncture helps perimenopausal insomnia. Researchers in China have found that acupuncture can contribute to clinically relevant improvements in perimenopausal insomnia, both objectively and subjectively. A total of 76 such patients were randomised to receive either ten sessions of acupuncture or sham needling at the same points, over a period of three weeks. After treatment, sleep quality improved by 8.0 points in the acupuncture group versus 1.3 points in the sham group. Insomnia severity scores reduced by 11.3 points in the acupuncture group, and 2.9 points in the sham group.

Further, overnight polysomnography at baseline and completion of treatment, showed that acupuncture significantly improved sleep efficiency and total sleep time, and was associated with both more rapid sleep onset and less waking after falling asleep. No significant differences between baseline and post-treatment were found in the placebo group.

(Acupuncture Improves Peri-menopausal Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Sleep, 22 September 2017.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.