A Comparison of the Therapeutic Effect Between Head-point Acupuncture and Conventional Body Acupuncture on Insomnia

A Comparison of the Therapeutic Effect Between Head-point Acupuncture and Conventional Body Acupuncture on Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Case Study

The investigators will conduct a single-center, and randomized controlled cases study. A total of 120 participants with insomnia will be enrolled. The aim of the study is to compare the therapeutic effect between head-acupoints acupuncture and body-acupoints acupuncture on Insomnia.

The investigators will conduct a single-center, and randomized controlled cases study. A total of 120 participants with insomnia will be enrolled, and randomly assigned into two groups, 60 of them are the head-acupoints acupuncture group, who will receive GV20, EX-HN-1, GV21, GV22, GV23, GV24, GV29, and bilateral GB13 head-acupoints acupuncture treatment, and 60 of them are the body-acupoints acupuncture group, who will receive bilateral HT7, PC6, SP6, ST36, KI3, LR3 body-acupoints acupuncture treatment for 4 weeks.

The primary outcomes of therapeutic effect on insomnia are changes of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).The time frame of the three primary outcomes are: baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 and week 6.

The secondary outcomes of therapeutic effect on insomnia are sleep parameters including sleep efficiency (SE), sleep awakenings (SA) and total sleep time (TST) recorded by the actigraphy (time frame: baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 and week 6), as well as the heart rate viability(HRV) recorded by the ECG monitor (time frame: baseline week 0, week1, week 2, week 3, week 4 and week 6; and 30 minutes before and 60 minutes after acupuncture through study completion).

Inclusion Criteria:

1. aged 20~70 years,
2. met the diagnostic criteria of insomnia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition, DSM-V)
3. experienced insomnia at least three times a week for more than a month
4. voluntarily agreed with the investigation and signed a written informed con- sent form before the clinical trial started.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. a pregnant or lactating woman
2. the patient's insomnia is caused by mental disorders other than mild anxiety,
3. the patient has serious cardiovascular, liver, kidney or hematopoietic system disease
4. the patient's insomnia is caused by nervous system disease (eg, stroke, Parkinson's Disease)
5. the patient has taken Chinese herbs and herbal formulas for insomnia two weeks before the trial
6. the patient with cardiac pacemaker
7. the patient does not want to wear portable physiological signal recording device (SOMNOwatchTM) and handheld ECG monitor
8. the patient has a history of sleep apnea