This review is entitled “A narrative review of the impact of reiki and therapeutic touch on sleep quality and health in women” and aimed to evaluate the application methods of energy therapies, specifically Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, their health effects, and their positive impact on sleep quality, particularly in women.
The author who is from the Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Midwifery Department, Osmaniye, Turkey, states in her abstract that:
“energy therapies are holistic approaches designed to restore energy balance and enhance overall health. Reiki utilizes universal energy flow to promote physical, mental, and spiritual harmony. By balancing energy centers, Reiki helps alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression while being a generally safe practice with no reported side effects.”
The author continues by claiming that studies involving menopausal women suggest that Reiki improves sleep quality, reduces the time to fall asleep, and stabilizes sleep patterns.
Therapeutic Touch, the author explains:
“focuses on sensing and balancing the body’s energy fields, operating on the principle that energy imbalances contribute to illness. Research indicates that Therapeutic Touch alleviates stress, fatigue, anxiety, and pain, while enhancing sleep quality, relaxation, and overall quality of life. Studies in menopausal women confirm its effectiveness in addressing sleep disturbances and promoting well-being.”
The author concludes that energy therapies, particularly methods like Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, have garnered attention for their positive impact on women’s health and overall well being. These noninvasive, safe, and low-cost practices have shown promise, especially in areas such as sleep quality, stress management, and the alleviation of menopausal symptoms. However, the limited scientific literature in this field necessitates further research to solidify their efficacy.
The author also issues the following ecommendations:
• Theoretical and practical training on energy therapies should be integrated into nursing education
programs to enhance awareness and application.
• Randomized controlled trials should be conducted to investigate the effectiveness of energy
therapies across different age groups and health conditions.
• Research on women’s health should focus specifically on the effects of energy therapies on sleep
quality and menopausal symptoms.
• Public awareness of energy therapies should be increased, and their integration into healthcare systems
should be facilitated.
• Energy therapies should be recognized as complementary treatment options in health institutions,
contributing to patient satisfaction and stress management.
This paper is a good example to show why I have often warned that research of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) is in serious danger to be no longer taken seriously. Scientists and rational healthcare professionals will simply dismiss it outright because it simply is pseudo-research masquarading as the real thing.
The review fails to contain a methods section which means we do not know on what evidence the conclusions are based. Once we have a closer look, we realize that the paper:
- relies on highly selected studies;
- does not even consider the implausibility of energy healing;
- fails to assess the methodological quality of the primaary studies.
All this is done so that the author – presumably a nurse who practices energy healing – can arrive at the conclusion she set out to draw.
Such papers are deeply disturbing because they mislead the reader and undermine trust in science.
PS
In case you are interested in a reasonable and evidence-based conclusion about energy healing, here is one I suggest:
A review of the evidence shows that energy healing flies in the face of science and is not supported by sound clinical evidence. Energy healing has therefore no place in rational healthcare.
8 Responses to The impact of Reiki and Therapeutic Touch on sleep quality and health
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I remain very concerned.
How can we sure the energy these therapists generate does not actually hasten the progress of cancer?
How do we know these therapists do not use their energy for malign purposes such as actually causing cancer, or wars even?
Is it possible Reiki energy has affected some of the world’s politicians?
No? But how do we know?
They claim to affect ‘energy imbalances’, but how do we know they don’t make imbalance worse?
What are the side effects of applying Reiki energy?
In the institutions where they work, what ethical approval has been given to use these novel treatments?
What risk/benefit studies have been undertaken?
We should be told.
Oh, but I would have had so much fun with this if it had been in nurse training back in the mid-80s when I trained. As it was I rapidly gained a reputation for asking for evidence and then ripping that apart as it was usually of very poor quality.
Seriously, per my by-now-standard rant about the lack of critical thinking and science and stats in nurse training, this sort of nonsense is far too prevalent among my erstwhile colleagues.
hear, hear!
Many years ago now, because of my experience as a chiropractor, acupuncturist, and pharmacist, I met with the director of a local hospital who was interested in doing something Alt-Medical in house. He asked me about providing Reiki therapy for patients there. I think he was pressured by a small group of nurses who were Reiki enthusiasts.
I advised against implementing any of the so-called “energy” therapies and faith-based medicines, emphasizing liability issues mainly. He was curious why. I told him that since there was no science that could explain any predictable therapeutic benefit, the hospital would be at the mercy of any patient who claimed they were harmed by the treatment. Should that happen, the hospital would have to admit it was only hand waving in the first place and couldn’t have done anything, never mind whatever they had been accused of. And that would be, at the very least, embarrassing.
I think he got the message.
~TEO.
“no science that could explain any predictable therapeutic benefit”
today, there is plenty of science: the science around the placebo effect!
hehehe … so you’re suggesting the defense offered by the hospital in court when a patient sues them claiming the failure of a surgery, let’s say, was due to the Reiki therapy some nurse administered during the surgery or at the bedside would be: “Well, there’s plenty of science around the placebo effect?”
I don’t think so 😊
Like I said, this would be, at the very least, embarrassing for the hospital to admit that Reiki is completely without a supportable medical argument … beyond the placebo effect, that is.
Let me put it to you the same way I did to the hospital director. What would be your argument that the Reiki Therapy your hospital provides could NOT have caused a problem claimed by a patient?
~TEO.
“so you’re suggesting the defense offered by the hospital in court when a patient sues them claiming the failure of a surgery, let’s say, was due to the Reiki therapy some nurse administered during the surgery or at the bedside would be: “Well, there’s plenty of science around the placebo effect?””
No.
What would be your argument that the Reiki Therapy your hospital provides could NOT have caused a problem claimed by a patient?
My hospital would not provide Reiki.
Well, after talking with me, the hospital director didn’t provide Reiki Therapy for the patients there, either. In fact, I believe his whole interest in implementing some Alt-Med into the hospital setting had been completely blunted after our conversation.
I’m guessing, because of my previous experience as a licensed chiropractor and acupuncturist, he had contacted me expecting I would tell him how to go about adding in some Alt-Med into the hospital. So when I first posed the question of defending the hospital from liability claims, he looked at me like I had stripped naked and jumped in a cactus.
~TEO.