Transcranial alternating current stimulation effective option for insomnia

All adults with chronic insomnia do not respond to the recommended therapeutic options of cognitive behavioral therapy and approved hypnotic drugs.Therefore researchers are in look out for new options.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation is a novel effective modality of treatment for chronic insomnia, finds a new study. Transcranial alternating current stimulation may offer a novel potential treatment modality for insomnia.The study has been published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

This study aimed to examine the efficacy and safety of Transcranial alternating current stimulation for treating adult patients with chronic insomnia.

Sixty-two participants with chronic primary insomnia received 20 daily 40-min, 77.5-Hz, 15-mA sessions of active or sham tACS targeting the forehead and both mastoid areas in the laboratory on weekdays for 4 consecutive weeks, followed by a 4-week follow-up period. The primary outcome was response rate measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) at week 8. Secondary outcomes were remission rate, insomnia severity, sleep onset latency (SOL), total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency, sleep quality, daily disturbances, and adverse events at the end of the 4-week intervention and at the 4-week follow-up.