Studies Showing Acupuncture Works for Insomnia

These studies give hope! -Read about how acupuncture and herbal medicine help improve sleep.

Impact of Acupuncture on Sleep and Comorbid Symptoms for Chronic Insomnia: A Randomized Clinical Trial1

“We conducted comprehensive searches in both English and Chinese databases, and included 46 randomized trials. Our review suggests that acupuncture improves sleep quality and increases sleep duration. “


Efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment on primary insomnia: a randomized controlled trial2

“(participants) Insomnia severity index improved dramatically in the acupuncture group … Similar significant improvements can also be observed in the SE, TST and SDS scores. “

  • SE – sleep efficiency
  • SA – sleep awakenings
  • TST – total sleep time
  • SDS – Self-Rating Depression Scale

Clinical study on acupuncture for primary insomnia3

“Acupuncture at … is an effective method for primary insomnia with easy manipulation, worth clinical popularization.”


  1. Wang C, Xu WL, Li GW, Fu C, Li JJ, Wang J, Chen XY, Liu Z, Chen YF. Impact of Acupuncture on Sleep and Comorbid Symptoms for Chronic Insomnia: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nat Sci Sleep. 2021;13:1807-1822, https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S326762 ↩︎
  2. Xuan Yin, Minghui Gou, Jian Xu, Bo Dong, Ping Yin, Fernand Masquelin, Junyi Wu, Lixing Lao, Shifen Xu, Efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment on primary insomnia: a randomized controlled trial, Sleep Medicine, Volume 37, 2017, Pages 193-200, ISSN 1389-9457,
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.02.012. ↩︎
  3. Shao Y. Clinical study on acupuncture for primary insomnia. J Acupunct Tuina Sci, 2017, 15(6): 410-414 DOI: 10.1007/s11726-017-1037-4, Acupuncture Department, Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Hangzhou Red Cross Hospital), Hangzhou 310003, China ↩︎