Acupuncture outperforms drug therapy for the treatment of insomnia. Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine researchers compared the efficaciousness of auricular acupuncture with estazolam drug therapy for the treatment of insomnia in senior citizens. Estazolam achieved an 82.9% total effective rate and auricular acupuncture achieved a 91.4% total effective rate. Acupuncture outperformed drug therapy for the improvement of sleep quality, duration, and daytime functioning. Results were determined by analysis of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores.
Auricular acupuncture involves the application of filiform needles (1.5 mm length) to specific acupoints located on the outer surface of the ear. Estazolam is a benzodiazepine, a psychoactive drug in the same class as chlordiazepoxide (Librium) and diazepam (Valium). The study involved the selection of 70 patients at the acupuncture department of Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All patients were diagnosed with insomnia between March 2015 and March 2016. They were randomly divided into an acupuncture treatment group and a drug control group, with 35 patients in each group.
from Acupuncture and Herbs News and Research https://ift.tt/2vYmZ2G
