ReviewJournal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine2011
Autonomic activation in insomnia: the case for acupuncture.
Review in Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture for insomnia in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for alleviating insomnia in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder: systematic evaluation and net meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Acupuncture and moxibustion for malignant tumor patients with psychological symptoms of insomnia, anxiety and depression: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2023Pooled it
- Concussion and the autonomic nervous system: An introduction to the field and the results of a systematic review.NeuroRehabilitation · 2018Pooled it
- Auricular acupuncture with seed or pellet attachments for primary insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Acupuncture for insomnia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture for treating cancer-related insomnia: a multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled, pilot clinical trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness and cerebral responses of multi-points acupuncture for primary insomnia: a preliminary randomized clinical trial and fMRI study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Trial
- Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in insomnia patients with objective short sleep duration.Journal of sleep research · 2018Trial
- Electroacupuncture for treating insomnia in patients with cancer: a study protocol for a randomised pilot clinical trial.BMJ open · 2017Trial
- Comparative effectiveness of electro-acupuncture versus gabapentin for sleep disturbances in breast cancer survivors with hot flashes: a randomized trial.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Understanding the Use of Acupuncture for Insomnia Among Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)Trial
- Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture Combined with Hydroxychloroquine in Treating Primary Sjögren's Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2026Article
- From bidirectional pathophysiology to integrative therapeutics: current status and future perspectives of acupuncture for tinnitus-insomnia comorbidity.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The central regulatory effects of acupuncture in treating primary insomnia: a review.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Article
- The Beneficial Role of Auricular Point Pressure in Insomnia and Anxiety in Isolated COVID-19 Patients.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Article
- Article
- Using Nonlinear Dynamics and Multivariate Statistics to Analyze EEG Signals of Insomniacs with the Intervention of Superficial Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Current conceptualizations of the biological basis for insomnia typically invoke central nervous system and/or autonomic nervous system arousal. Acupuncture may represent a unique avenue of treatment for poor sleep by virtue of its direct effects on peripheral nerves and muscles, which, in turn, modulate autonomic tone and central activation. In this review, we summarize both basic and clinical research indicating that acupuncture exerts profound influences via a wide variety of potential neural and/or hormonal mechanisms that have great relevance for the modulation of sleep and wakefulness. We illustrate principles of acupuncture intervention applied to cases of otherwise intractable insomnia that document successful application of this component of Traditional Chinese Medicine to the treatment of poor sleep. Our review indicates the necessity for further research in the relationship between the effects of acupuncture on insomnia and autonomic regulation, which might guide better selective use of this treatment modality for insomnia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
21344045PMC3041619W1534902206What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.