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40Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation enhance insomnia treatment efficacy: a pilot study

Molecular Psychiatry volume 30, pages 3316–3318 (2025)Cite this article

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Insomnia is a prevalent clinical condition characterized by difficulty for patients to initiate and/or stay in sleep along with common comorbidities such as irritability or fatigue during wakefulness [1]. Study found that insomnia patients show declines in cognitive abilities such as working memory and aspects of execution [2]. Currently, pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) are the primary treatment methods in clinical practice, but the effects of drug tolerance, dependence, and side effects, as well as CBT-I in terms of compliance, treatment professionalism, and their efficacy appears to vary among individuals [3]. Therefore, various neuromodulation techniques, such as magnetic stimulation, electrical stimulation, and light stimulation, strive to provide innovative therapeutic alternatives.

Flickering light stimulation is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that has promising futures in alleviating pathological changes in insomnia [4]. Current research hypothesized that the therapeutic effect of light flickering stands on the fundamentals of brain entrainment, such as repetitive and regular stimulation of light, sound or other electrical and magnetic signals could prompt the brain to produce brain waves in the matching frequency, and 40 Hz light induce the strongest gamma oscillation [5, 6]. Even though studies conducted specifically on light flickering and insomnia is yet limited, we are going to introduce a new study below that demonstrates the specific neurochemical basis for 40 Hz flickering and how its therapeutic effect on insomnia was achieved [7].

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Fig. 1: The influence of 40 Hz tACS on chronic insomnia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all participants for their excellent cooperation. The study was supported by the Ningbo Public Welfare Project (No. 2022S022), the Ningbo Natural Science Foundation Project (No.2021J275 and No.2022J269), the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Plan Project of Zhejiang Province (No.2021ZB266), the Ningbo Clinical Medical Research Centre for Mental Health (No.2022L002), and the Ningbo Top Medical and Health Research Program (No.2022030410) and Ningbo medical and health brand discipline (No.PPXK 2024-07).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Qi Zhou, Xiaoqian Guo.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of psychiatry, Affiliated Kangning Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

    Qi Zhou, Xiaoqian Guo, Chang Li, Yafang Tang, Zhiwang Liu & Dongsheng Zhou

  2. Department of psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

    Qi Zhou, Xiaoqian Guo, Chang Li, Yafang Tang, Zhiwang Liu & Dongsheng Zhou

  3. College of Art and Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Xiaolin Zheng

  4. Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Qicheng Tao

  5. The Second People’s Hospital of Lishui, Lishui, Zhejiang, China

    Guolin Jin

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Contributions

Dongsheng Zhou and Guolin Jin designed the study; Qi Zhou, Xiaolin Zheng and Qicheng Tao performed the study, analyzed the results, and wrote the paper together; Xiaoqian Guo, Chang Li and Yafang Tang contributed to sample collection and clinical evaluations; Qi Zhou, Zhiwang Liu and Dongsheng Zhou revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dongsheng Zhou.

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Zhou, Q., Guo, X., Zheng, X. et al. 40Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation enhance insomnia treatment efficacy: a pilot study. Mol Psychiatry 30, 3316–3318 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03001-4

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