Recent Clinic Study: Stress/Insomnia*

Acupuncture Increases Nocturnal Melatonin Secretion and Reduces Insomnia and Anxiety: A Preliminary Report

D. Warren Spence, M.A., Leonid Kayumov, Ph.D., DABSM, Adam Chen, Ph.D., Alan Lowe, M.D., Umesh Jain, M.D., Martin A. Katzman, M.D., Jianhua Shen, M.D., Boris Perelman, Ph.D. and Colin M. Shapiro, MBBCh, Ph.D., FRCP(C) Received April 16, 2002; revised September 13, 2002; accepted October 1, 2002. From the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario; Sleep Research Laboratory, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario; The Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario; St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario; Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario. Address correspondence to Dr. Kayumov, Sleep Research Laboratory, University Health Network, ECW 3D-035, 399 Bathurst St. Toronto, Ontario M5T-2S8

The response to acupuncture of 18 anxious adult subjects who complained of insomnia was assessed in an open prepost clinical trial study. Five weeks of acupuncture treatment was associated with a significant (p = 0.002) nocturnal increase in endogenous melatonin secretion (as measured in urine) and significant improvements in polysomnographic measures of sleep onset latency (p = 0.003), arousal index (p = 0.001), total sleep time (p = 0.001), and sleep efficiency (p = 0.002). Significant reductions in state (p = 0.049) and trait (p = 0.004) anxiety scores were also found. These objective findings are consistent with clinical reports of acupuncture's relaxant effects. Acupuncture treatment may be of value for some categories of anxious patients with insomnia.

^{*Click here to read "Acupuncture and Emotion" by Charles Yarborough, L.Ac.}

^{*Click here to read "Fibromyalgia: The Real Story" by Charles Yarborough, L.Ac.}