Do Alternative Treatments for Insomnia Work?

People who have been dealing with insomnia for a long time have likely tried many things to sleep better. With so much information available, and so many claims about what helps, it can be overwhelming to sort through the alternatives on offer. Here are the most common ones, and what the evidence does or does not say about each.

Relaxation therapy — recommended

This is the one option here that a guideline recommends. According to NCCIH: "Current clinical practice guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2021) conditionally recommend relaxation therapy as a single-component therapy for the treatment of chronic insomnia disorder in adults."1

One thing to know: relaxation techniques are often part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), a treatment plan that works on the thoughts and habits keeping you awake. Inside the CBT-I program, relaxation contributes to the guideline's only strong recommendation. Used on its own, that recommendation softens to conditional.3

Acupuncture — not enough evidence

A 2019 clinical practice guideline from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense said there was not enough evidence to recommend for or against using acupuncture for insomnia, except for a weak recommendation for auricular acupuncture.6

Read that carefully, because it is easy to misread in either direction. It does not say acupuncture fails. It says there is not enough evidence yet to decide either way. In 2019 there was one narrow exception: auricular (ear) acupuncture, which got a weak recommendation. The 2025 update of that guideline makes no recommendation on acupuncture at all, including ear acupuncture.5

Mindfulness — not enough evidence on its own

A 2021 clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said there was not enough evidence to make recommendations on using mindfulness by itself for insomnia.1

The key words are by itself. Mindfulness is often woven into broader treatment programs. The guideline is talking about mindfulness as a standalone treatment, and for that specific question the evidence falls short.

Yoga and tai chi — insufficient evidence

The 2019 VA/DoD guideline looked at both and found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against either one for treating insomnia.6 Its 2025 update holds the same position, grouping mindfulness meditation, tai chi, yoga, qigong and exercise together as approaches with insufficient evidence to recommend for or against.5

They may be good for you in other ways. The evidence is simply limited on whether they treat chronic insomnia. Some studies suggest they may improve sleep; the guideline did not find enough to make a firm recommendation either way.

Homeopathy — no reliable evidence

This is one of the clearest answers in the whole group. From NCCIH:

"There's little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific health condition."

"A 2015 comprehensive assessment of evidence by the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council concluded that there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective for any health condition."2

There is also a safety issue that is easy to miss if you assume homeopathic products are harmless. NCCIH notes that some products labeled as homeopathic may contain substantial amounts of active ingredients and could cause side effects and drug interactions. It also notes that liquid preparations may contain more alcohol than conventional drugs are permitted, and that a 2012 systematic review found harm both from certain products and from "replacing an effective conventional treatment with an ineffective homeopathic one."2

That last risk deserves particular attention. A remedy that does nothing still costs you the time you could have spent on something that works.

Red light therapy and sleep hypnosis apps — not assessed

No guideline reviewed here has published an answer on either. Anyone telling you confidently that these treat insomnia is going beyond what has been established.

There are some preliminary results. A small randomized trial in 30 adults with chronic insomnia found that transcranial near-infrared light improved sleep quality compared with a sham treatment.8 A 2026 systematic review pooling five trials and 240 participants found a modest improvement in sleep quality, while calling the evidence limited.9 Neither tells you whether a home red-light panel does anything.

For hypnosis, a systematic review of randomized trials found that hypnotherapy shortened the time taken to fall asleep compared with a waitlist but not compared with a sham, and rated 11 of its 13 studies low quality.10 A review of 168 hypnosis apps found that only four reported being included in a clinical efficacy trial.11

What has been assessed, repeatedly

Across all of this sits one finding that keeps recurring. NCCIH, looking specifically at complementary and alternative options, concludes: "The treatment most strongly recommended for insomnia remains multicomponent cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)."7

The American College of Physicians agrees. Its guideline recommends CBT-I as the initial treatment for all adults with chronic insomnia disorder — a strong recommendation based on moderate-quality evidence.4 So does the 2025 VA/DoD guideline, which gives CBT-I its strongest category of recommendation.5

So if you are looking into alternatives, the question worth asking first is whether you have tried the approach with the strongest recommendation behind it.