Acupressure in insomnia for patients with Alzheimer's disease

Sleep disorders are very common in elderly institutionalized people with dementia. We explored the effectiveness of acupressure for the treatment of insomnia and we want to show that the acupressure treatment is feasible also in elderly resident patients. We enrolled institutionalized patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease with mild cognitive impairment and insomnia. A daily acupressure on HT7 point was performed for a 8-week period. We administered the following scales: the mini mental state examination, the global deterioration scale, the neuropsychiatric inventory, the state-trait-anxiety inventory, the activity daily living and the instrumental activity daily living, the global health quality of life, and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index. After receiving the acupressure treatment, patients saw a significant decrease of sleep disorders. The number of hours of effective sleep was perceived as increased. The time necessary to fall asleep decreased significantly and also the quality of sleep increased. Additionally, also the quality of life was bettered. Sedative drugs have been reduced in all patients enrolled in the study.