Acupuncture improved sleep and mood symptoms more than sham treatment while altering brain activity patterns linked to clinical improvement.
Ninety adults with insomnia and mood disorders were randomly assigned to receive either active acupuncture or sham acupuncture over two weeks. Researchers assessed sleep quality, anxiety, depression, overall treatment response, and visually evoked electrical brain activity at baseline and during follow-up periods extending to forty-two weeks.
Compared with sham treatment, active acupuncture produced sustained improvements in sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and overall clinical response. It also changed electrical activity across most measured brain regions, with several brain activity measures correlating with sleep, anxiety, and treatment-response outcomes, suggesting that acupuncture may regulate abnormal brain excitability associated with insomnia and mood symptoms.
