Acupuncture helps sleep problems in post-deployment military personnel, according to American researchers at the US Naval Hospital, Okinawa, Japan. Participants were randomised to receive one of two treatment approaches: standardised acupuncture plus cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and CBT alone. The acupuncture group received sessions once per week for four weeks.
Both groups demonstrated similar improvements in sleep scores. The acupuncture group however, reported greater benefits in sleep, and in other areas of life, including mental, physical and social functioning.
(Acupuncture for Sleep Disturbances in Post-Deployment Military Service Members: A Randomised Controlled Trial. Clinical Nursing Research , February 2022.)
Author: Robin Costello
I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training.
I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.
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