The investigators will conduct a single-center case series study. A total of 40 participants with insomnia will be enrolled. The aim of the study is to assess the therapeutic effect of head-point acupuncture for the treatment of insomnia.
The investigators will conduct a single-center case series study. A total of 40 participants with insomnia will be enrolled, and will undergo GV20, EX-HN-1, GV21, GV22, GV23, GV24, GV29, and bilateral GB13 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).
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
40
Changes of The Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS)
The Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) containing eight items that ask for self-reported disclosure of the expectation of "dozing" in a variety of situations. A sum of responses is calculated for a total score ranging from 0 to 24, higher scores mean a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 & 2 weeks post-tx (week 6)
Changes of The HADS(The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale)
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale is a 14-items self-administered questionnaire, the scores ranged from 0 to 21 for anxiety and 0 to 21 for depression, higher scores mean a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 & 2 weeks post-tx (week 6)
Changes of The PSQI(Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index)
The 19 questions are combined into seven clinically-derived component scores, each weighted equally from 0-3. The seven component scores are added to obtain a global score ranging from 0-21, with higher scores indicating worse sleep quality.
Time frame: Baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 & 2 weeks post-tx (week 6)
HRV(Heart rate viability)
Frequency-domain analysis of heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive method, has been used to reflect cardiac autonomic nervous activity in humans. The high-frequency power (HF; 0.15-0.4 Hz) of HRV represents vagal (parasympathetic) control of heart rate. The low-frequency power (LF; 0.04- 0.15 Hz) of HRV is jointly contributed by both sympathetic and vagal nerves, whereas normalized LF (nLF) is regarded as the sympathetic modulation.
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, an average of 1 year.
actigraphy (3-day)
Actigraphy provides objective estimates of sleep parameters including: SE(sleep efficiency), SA(sleep awakenings), TST(total sleep time)
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Time frame: Baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 & 2 weeks post-tx (week 6)
sleep diary
The sleep diary provides daily subjective estimates of sleep parameters including: daytime nap, sleep aids intake, bedtime, sleep onset latency, frequency of nocturnal awakenings, awakenings duration, wake-up time, arising time, feeling upon arising (five-point scale) and sleep quality (five-point scale).
Time frame: Baseline week 0, week 2, week 4 & 2 weeks post-tx (week 6)