Improving Sleep With the Far-infrared Emitting Pyjamas

Objectives: To explore the effects of a far-infrared emitting pyjamas on improving sleep in adults with poor sleep. Hypothesis: Subjects who wear the far-infrared emitting pyjamas (FIR pyjamas) will have greater improvement in sleep quality than the subjects in sham pyjamas control group (sham-pyjamas) at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Design and subjects: A pilot randomized sham-controlled trial. Subjects with subjective sleep complaints will be recruited from the community. 40 subjects will be randomized to far-infrared emitting pyjamas and sham-pyjamas groups in a 1: 1 ratio. Study instrument: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) will be used as an overall evaluation of sleep quality. Interventions: Subjects in the FIR pyjamas group will received pyjamas with far-infrared emitting features and will wear it every night for 6 weeks; subjects in the sham-pyjamas group will receive pyjamas in identical appearance without far-infrared emitting features. Outcome measures: The primary outcome measure is the PSQI score. Other measures include insomnia severity index (ISI), sleep parameters derived from 7-day sleep diary, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Acceptability of the far-infrared emitting pyjamas will also be evaluated. Data Analysis: Differences in the questionnaire scores, subjective sleep parameters will be examined using a mixed-effects model. Clinical significance of sleep improvement between two groups will be compared with chi-squared test.