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.)