Member Login
Sign Up

Qigong for Insomnia

Qigong for Insomnia

This systematic review and meta-analysis provided evidence that mind body therapies such as tai chi, qigong, yoga, and meditation could be effective in treating insomnia and improving the sleep quality of healthy subjects and clinical patients.

This research looked at 49 studies; a total of 4506 participants were included in the meta-analysis.

They found that the effect of mind-body therapies on sleep quality in healthy individuals was larger than within clinical (i.e. institutionalized) populations.

As two different types of mind body therapies, tai chi and qigong were analyzed separately and produced a minor difference in outcomes.

In all cases, mind body therapies could be effective in improving sleep quality and are useful in treating insomnia of healthy subjects and clinical patients.  Meditation had a slightly larger effect than tai chi, qigong, and yoga. When treated as different types of mind body therapies, qigong had a slight advantage over tai chi on the improvement of sleep quality.  

The authors concluded that while further studies are necessary, there is a great deal of evidence that mind body practices are therapeutic for insomnia.

The Effect of Mind-Body Therapies on Insomnia:  A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2019, Article ID 9359807, 17 pages. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9359807

By XiangWang, Peihuan Li, Chen Pan, Lisha Dai,YanWu, and Yunlong Deng.

ABSTRACT

Sleep plays an important role in individuals’ health. The functions of the brain, the cardiovascular system, the immune system, and the metabolic system are closely associated with sleep. As a prevalent sleep disorder, insomnia has been closely concerned, and it is necessary to find effective therapies.

In recent years, a growing body of studies has shown that mind-body therapies (MBTs) can improve sleep quality and ameliorate insomnia severity. However, a comprehensive and overall systematic review has not been conducted.

In order to examine the effect of MBTs on insomnia, we conducted a systematic review and metaanalysis evaluating the effects of MBTs on sleep quality in healthy adults and clinical populations.

Methods. PubMed,EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and review of references were searched up to July 2018. English language studies of all designs evaluating the effect of MBTs on sleep outcomes in adults with or without diseases were examined. To calculate the SMDs and 95% CIs, we used a fixed effect model when heterogeneity was negligible and a random effect model when heterogeneity was significant.

Results. 49 studies covering 4506 participants published between 2004 and 2018 were identified. Interventions included meditation, tai chi, qigong,and yoga which lasted 4 to 24 weeks.The MBTs resulted in statistically significant improvement in sleep quality and reduction on insomnia severity but no significant effects on sleep quantity indices, which were measured by sleep diary or objective measures.

We analyzed the effects of tai chi and qigong separately as two different MBTs for the first time and found that qigong had a slight advantage over tai chi in the improvement of sleep quality. Subgroup analyses revealed that the effect of MBTs on sleep quality in healthy individuals was larger than clinical populations.The effect of MBTs might be influenced by the intervention duration but not the frequency.

Conclusions. MBTs can be effective in treating insomnia and improving sleep quality for healthy individuals and clinical patients. More high-quality and well-controlled RCTs are needed to make a better conclusion in further study.