Sleep & Insomnia

    Impulse Magnetic-Field Therapy for Insomnia (Landmark Study)

    Grade A-Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial2001

    What did this study find?

    Researchers randomly assigned 101 adults with insomnia to impulse magnetic-field therapy or a placebo device for four weeks. Ninety-four percent of the treated group reported some degree of improvement, and every efficacy measure the investigators tracked improved significantly against placebo. The published report does not describe the full signal parameters of the field used.

    What are the details of this record?

    Full citation
    Pelka RB, Jaenicke C, Gruenwald J. Impulse magnetic-field therapy for insomnia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Adv Ther. 2001 Jul-Aug;18(4):174-80.
    Journal
    Advances in Therapy
    Authors
    Pelka RB, Jaenicke C, Gruenwald J
    Study design
    Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
    Sample size and population
    101 patients with insomnia
    Evidence grade
    Grade A- on the BioReg grading scale
    Reported findings
    4-week double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 101 patients. 70% experienced substantial/complete relief, 24% clear improvement, 6% slight improvement = 94% total improvement rate. All efficacy criteria showed highly significant improvement (P<.00001).
    DOI
    No DOI recorded

    A positive PEMF study is not evidence for a specific device unless the signal parameters studied, frequency, intensity, waveform, and exposure duration, are reasonably comparable to what that device produces. Where this record does not list those parameters, the source report did not publish them. See the grading methodology. Library last reviewed 2026-08-27.