Objective To compare the therapeutic effects of evening-electroacupuncture(EA) and morning-EA for insomnia.Methods Sixty cases of simple insomnia patients were randomly divided into evening-EA group and morning-EA group

with 30 cases in each.EA(2/100 Hz

1-3 mA) was applied to Baihui(GV 20)

Shenting(GV 24)

Touwei(ST 8)

Shenmen(HT 7)

Sanyinjiao(SP 6)

etc.in the evening(8:00-9:00 pm) and in the morning(8:00—11:00 am) respectively in two groups

once daily for 10 times.Changes of mean global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)

sleep rate

frequency of hypnotic-taking

etc were observed before and after the treatment.Results In comparison with pre-treatment

mean PSQI scores in evening-EA and morning-EA groups

and hypnotic-taking frequency in evening-EA group decreased evidently during two weeks after the treatment

and sleep rates of two groups increased significantly from the 1st day on after the treatment in evening-EA group and from the 1st week on in morning-EA group(P< 0.01).Comparison between two groups showed that the mean PSQI scores at the 1st and 2nd week in evening-EA group were significantly lower

and the sleep rate in evening-EA group on the 2nd week after the treatment was considerably higher than that in morning-EA group(P<0.05).Conclusion Evening-EA can significantly lower insomnia patients' PSQI score

raise sleep rate

and reduce the hypnotic-taking frequency.Evening-EA is superior to morning-EA in the treatment of insomnia.