Intensive care units can be noisy places filled with lights and are not always conducive to getting a good night's sleep. To resolve this issue, researchers in China set out to find the best way to boost ICU patients' sleep quality.
They set up a simulated ICU and compared the effectiveness of melatonin, earplugs and eye masks on sleep quality with subjects who were healthy.
Subjects were in groups after sleeping in the simulated ICU for one baseline night: a placebo pill, use of earplugs and eye masks, a melatonin dose and a control group. Subjects rated their perceived sleep quality and anxiety levels.
People who were given melatonin and those who were given earplugs and eye masks all reported improved sleep quality and anxiety levels compared to baseline. However, the improvement in perceived sleep quality in the melatonin group was greater than the eye mask and ear plug group.
"Our pilot study provides a reasonable basis for promoting the use of oral melatonin, and earplugs and eye masks for ICU patients," the researchers wrote in the study, published in Critical Care. "However, compared to earplugs and eye masks, melatonin showed better performance in effectiveness and patient tolerability."
That being said, the study authors did note there are "potential safety issues related to melatonin administration in ICU patients that need to be considered." They plan to further study the effect oral melatonin can have on critically ill patients' ICU sleep deprivation.