http://goo.gl/ZizvtN
For the study, occupational therapy and physical therapy students were taught the basic shiatsu techniques and in turn trained participants, who reported falling asleep faster - sometimes even while administering treatment - and slept longer after two weeks and eight weeks of treatment, compared with a baseline measurement.
Cheyne spent about 10 to 15 minutes every night performing the treatments and found that instead of waking up every 45 or 60 minutes, she could stay asleep for 1.5 to two hours. Given she hasn't felt well rested in more than a decade, every minute counts and she still keeps up her treatments months after the pilot concluded.
"Usually within a few minutes of doing the pressure treatments, I'm gone - asleep," she says. "Sometimes I can't even finish, I just go out."
Results promising, but more study required
Brown cautions it's impossible to draw strong conclusions about the pilot given the small sample size, self-reported nature of the data and limitations in gender; however, she believes the results are promising enough to warrant further study.
Brown also notes there's a difference between people with pain passively going to a therapist versus taking control of their sleep problem in the form of self-administering hand shiatsu, which requires more mental effort - a theory of cognitive attention that she would like to explore further. Hand shiatsu, when self-administered, takes some concentration because our minds cannot focus on two demands at one time, she says, making it less likely that negative thoughts would interfere with sleep.