HOMEOPATHY AND CHRONIC PRIMARY INSOMNIA

Early day motion 287, tabled 21 June 2010 by David Tredinnick (Conservative). Signed by 16 members.

That this House welcomes the randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study at Durban University of Technology, South Africa, which evaluated the efficacy of homeopathic simillimum in the treatment of chronic primary insomnia; notes that the measurement tools used were a sleep diary (SD) and a sleep impairment index (SII); further notes that the SD data revealed that verum treatment resulted in a significant increase in duration of sleep throughout the study and a significant improvement in SII scores, compared to the placebo treatment which resulted in no significant increase in the duration of sleep; observes that an initial improvement occurred in the placebo group but this was not sustained and that a comparison between the results revealed a statistically significant difference; believes that homeopathic simillimum treatment of primary insomnia is effective compared with placebo in this study; and calls for further research in this area.

Signatures by party: Conservative 7, Labour 5, DUP 3, Liberal Democrat 1.