International Journal of Clinical Research

Objective To explore the efficacy of combining auricular acupoint pressure therapy with five-element music therapy in improving insomnia and anxiety symptoms among college students. Methods Data from 196 nursing students at Minzhi Vocational University were collected using the Insomnia TCM Symptom Score, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). A total of 32 students with insomnia and anxiety were screened and classified into five TCM syndrome patterns: liver-fire disturbing the heart, phlegm-heat disturbing the heart, heart-spleen deficiency, heart-kidney imbalance, and heart-gallbladder qi deficiency. The intervention included auricular acupoint therapy with Vaccaria seeds (replaced every 72 hours, targeting subcortex, heart, kidney, and Shenmen points) and five-element music therapy (customized music based on syndrome types, aligned with the Yin-Yang balance of the five tones—Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu—listened to daily at 21:00 for 30 minutes). Efficacy was evaluated after 8 weeks. Results The total effective rate was 84.38%. PSQI scores decreased by an average of 4.2 points, and SAS scores decreased by 9.59 points, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion The combination of auricular acupoint therapy and five-element music therapy demonstrates strong feasibility and efficacy in alleviating insomnia and anxiety among college students.

Auricular acupoint therapy; Five-element music therapy; College students; Insomnia; Anxiety