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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Dec 29;29(1):66.
doi: 10.1007/s11325-024-03204-z.

The effect of light therapy on insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Yi Wang #  1 , Xianchao Zhao #  1 , Jiafeng Ren  1 , Shengwen Xue  1 , Yuhang Liu  1 , Liping Zhang  1 , Mengmeng Fan  1 , Changjun Su  2 , Jin-Xiang Cheng  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The effect of light therapy on insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Yi Wang et al. Sleep Breath. .

Abstract

Purpose: Light is a crucial factor influencing sleep arousal patterns. This meta-analysis investigates the efficacy of light therapy (LT) for insomnia treatment.

Methods: Five electronic databases were independently searched by two reviewers until August 2024. The literature screening focused specifically on populations with insomnia complaints treated by LT. Weighted Mean Difference (WMD) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were used as statistical tools, while the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool version 2 (RoB 2) was employed to assess the quality of evidence. A total of 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were analyzed.

Results: The results demonstrated that LT showed statistically significant improvements in subjective sleep quality, as evidenced by a reduction in Pittsburgh sleep quality scale (PSQI) scores by -2.89 (95% CI = -4.80 to -0.97) and Insomnia severity index (ISI) scores by -2.16 (95% CI = -4.23 to -0.08) post-intervention. Additionally, actigraphy revealed a statistically significant increase in total sleep time (TST) by 16.78 min (95% CI = 0.67 to 32.89) and a decrease in wake after sleep onset (WASO) by -12.91 min (95% CI = -25.62 to -0.20) by LT.

Conclusion: The preliminary results of the study suggest that LT has some efficacy in improving sleep quality in insomnia. However, it needs to be validated in future clinical trials with larger samples.

Keywords: Insomnia; Light therapy; Meta-analysis; Sleep quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (name of institute/committee) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. Informed consent: Not applicable. Protocol and registration: The present systematic review was previously registered in PROSPERO under registration number: CRD42023435505. Conflict of interest: All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest, or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

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