Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 16, 2021; 9(29): 8740-8748
Published online Oct 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i29.8740
Effects of mindful breathing combined with sleep-inducing exercises in patients with insomnia
Hui Su, Li Xiao, Yue Ren, Hui Xie, Xiang-Hong Sun
Hui Su, Li Xiao, Yue Ren, Hui Xie, Xiang-Hong Sun, Sleep Medicine Center, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Su H and Sun XH designed the research study; Su H, Xiao L and Ren Y performed the research; Su H, Xie H, and Sun XH analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University (approval No 2019PS582K).
Clinical trial registration statement: The study is registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. The registration identification number is: ChiCTR2100049927 and URL for the registry is: https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=131839.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No relevant conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at sunxh@sj-hospital.org.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiang-Hong Sun, MD, Chief Nurse, Sleep Medicine Center, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. 750019113@qq.com
Received: April 21, 2021
Peer-review started: April 21, 2021
First decision: June 24, 2021
Revised: July 6, 2021
Accepted: August 23, 2021
Article in press: August 23, 2021
Published online: October 16, 2021
Processing time: 177 Days and 1.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It disrupts the patient’s life and work, increases the risk of various health issues, and often requires long-term intervention. The financial burden and inconvenience discourage patients from complying with the treatments, leading to chronic insomnia.

Research motivation

Mindfulness is a well-researched psychological practice and can be an effective nonpharmacological intervention, and its stability and effectiveness have been demonstrated in many studies about the insomnia. Herein, we employed a use a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effects of mindful breathing combined with a sleep-inducing exercise as adjunctive therapies for patients with insomnia.

Research objectives

To investigate the effects of mindful breathing combined with sleep-inducing exercises in patients with insomnia.

Research methods

In this work, the control group received routine therapies and care, while the treatment group was intervened with mindful breathing and a sleep-inducing exercise in addition to the routine therapies and care. The guided mindful breathing practice was performed daily, overseen by a nurse who played an audio recording of the guiding instructions in the treatment-group patient’s ward for 30 min prior to bedtime. Follow-up interviews were performed via telephone at 1 wk, 1 mo, and 3 mo after the intervention, and the information collected was used to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and Insomnia Severity Index.

Research results

Our results showed that 1 wk of intervention with the routine pharmacological and physical intervention therapies administered to the patients with insomnia during the hospitalization period did not significantly affect the treatment group. Thus, the effectiveness of the two practices was not demonstrated within that short time-frame. However, compared with the control group, patients in the treatment group exhibited significant improvements in sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep duration, daytime functioning, anxiety level, and insomnia severity at 1 and 3 mo of the intervention.

Research conclusions

We found that the combination of mindful breathing and a sleep-inducing exercise are useful as adjunctive therapies in the long-term treatment of patients with insomnia.

Research perspectives

The future research aims at how to enhance the effect of mindful breathing and a sleep-inducing exercise on the treatment of insomnia.