@article{ref1,
title="Effects of an intervention with drinking chamomile tea on sleep quality and depression in sleep disturbed postnatal women: a randomized controlled trial",
journal="Journal of Advanced Nursing",
year="2015",
author="Chang, Shao-Min and Chen, Chung-Hey",
volume="72",
number="2",
pages="306-315",
abstract="AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of chamomile tea on sleep quality, fatigue and depression in postpartum women. <br><br>BACKGROUND: Sleep quality is a significant issue for postnatal women. Chamomile is widely used as a folk remedy for its presumed sedative-hypnotic effects. <br><br>DESIGN: A pretest-post-test randomized controlled trial was used. <br><br>METHODS: A total of 80 Taiwanese postnatal women with poor sleep quality (Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale; PSQS score ≧16) were recruited from November 2012-August 2013. They were systematically assigned, with a random start, to either the experimental group (n = 40) or the control group (n = 40). The participants in the experimental group were instructed to drink chamomile tea for a period of 2 weeks. The participants in the control group received regular postpartum care only. The PSQS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and Postpartum Fatigue Scale were used to assess outcomes. Two-sample t-tests were used to examine the mean differences in outcome variables between the two groups. <br><br>RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the experimental group demonstrated significantly lower scores of physical-symptoms-related sleep inefficiency (t = -2·482, P = 0·015) and the symptoms of depression (t = -2·372, P = 0·020). However, the scores for all three instruments were similar for both groups at 4-week post-test, suggesting that the positive effects of chamomile tea were limited to the immediate term. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Chamomile tea may be recommended to postpartum women as a supplementary approach to alleviating depression and sleep quality problems.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0309-2402",
doi="10.1111/jan.12836",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jan.12836"
}