Acupuncture better than pills for insomnia

From the Journal of Chinese Medicine:
A systematic review of studies of acupuncture for insomnia, including papers published in both English and Chinese, has been carried out by researchers in Hong Kong. Twenty RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The majority of RCTs concluded that traditional needle acupuncture (TNA) was significantly more effective than benzodiazepines for treating insomnia, with mean effective rates for acupuncture and benzodiazepines being 91% and 75%, respectively. TNA also appeared to be better at improving sleep than sleep hygiene counselling and sham acupuncture. Standardised and individualised acupuncture were found to have similar effective rates. The authors point out methodological shortcomings in the studies reviewed and highlight the need for large scale, high-quality trials. (Traditional needle acupuncture treatment for insomnia: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Sleep Med. 2009 Mar 18. [Epub ahead of print]).