Probing the Efficacy of Relaxation Techniques of Primary Insomnia in a Non-Randomized Sample of University Students

Abstract

Insomnia is a common sleep complaint that could affect students' academic activities, and if not mitigated, it may give way to the development of other disorders. This study investigates the efficacy of relaxation techniques on insomnia among university students with mild depression. A non-randomized design involving pretest posttest experimental/control group was used. Twenty-four students (treatment = 12; control = 12), with a mean age of 24.6, voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were pretested, and post tested after six weeks of exposure to relaxation technique components, and the data collected was statistically analyzed using JMP 13.2. After adjusting for the covariate, finding suggests a significant effect of relaxation technique F (1, 21) = 22.416, p = .000, in reducing insomnia among university students. Participants exposed to relaxation technique for insomnia achieved an average of 46% remission compared to 9% for the control group. The study did not find significant differential effect of relaxation technique, F (1, 9) = .369, p = .559, in reducing insomnia of male compared to female university students. Based on these findings, we conclude that relaxation technique for insomnia is effective in helping students manage their sleep difficulty and this effectiveness is without gender bias.