Study on acupressure on sleep in post-menopausal women

In Iran, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Semnan University of Medical Science investigated the effects of acupressure treatment on the sleep quality of postmenopausal women. The double-blind, randomized study included a sample of 120 post-menopausal women whose sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The subjects were divided into an acupressure group (n = 37), a sham acupressure group (n = 36) and a control group (n = 32). The latter performed conversations two hours before bedtime over a period of four weeks, while the former two performed acupressure and massage techniques independently.

The results revealed differences in PSQI between the three groups, showing that acupressure can alleviate sleep disorders in post-menopausal women by 22 percent and that traditional Chinese medicine is suitable as a complementary treatment to improve sleep quality.