Treatments and supplements · Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for sleep

Can acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine fix my insomnia?

What we can tell you today: how thoroughly this has been studied.

Well studied

7 studies, including 2 that bring together the results of several trials in people.

5 Repeated evidence 2 studies

4 Large controlled trial 2 studies

3 Small study in people 3 studies

This says how thoroughly something has been studied — not whether it works for you. What each study actually found is in the study itself, and in the plain-language write-ups we are adding.

Appears under: Menopause and hormones · Weight loss and GLP-1 · Sleep, energy and the brain · Hair and nails

The studies

5 Repeated evidence Acupuncture for menopausal hot flushes.
2013 · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 1,155 participants
5 Repeated evidence Is laser acupuncture an effective complementary therapy for obesity management? A systematic review of clinical trials.
2018 · Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medica · 5 participants
4 Large controlled trial Qinghao Biejia Decoction Combined with Auricular Acupoint Seed Embedding in Improving TCM Syndromes and Sleep Parameters in Perimenopausal Insomnia Patients.
2026 · Behavioral sleep medicine · 160 participants
4 Large controlled trial Effects of acupuncture on hot flashes in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women--a multicenter randomized clinical trial.
2010 · Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 116 participants
3 Small study in people Acupuncture versus venlafaxine for the management of vasomotor symptoms in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: a randomized controlled trial.
2010 · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the · 25 participants
3 Small study in people [Effect on blood pressure and microcirculation of nail fold in primary hypertension patients treated with acupuncture according to syndrome differentiation].
2011 · Zhongguo zhen jiu = Chinese acupuncture & moxibustion
3 Small study in people Effects of acupuncture on hemorheology, blood lipid content and nail fold microcirculation in multiple infarct dementia patients.
2004 · Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa c