Application of Infrared Thermal Imaging in the Sleep Improvement Study

Developing assessing technique convenient to use is of great significance to sleep study. Successful application of infrared thermal imaging (ITI) demands obeying the characteristics and regularity of the ITI of human body and designing rigorous trials. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial was undertaken to study the influences of Shengan capsule, a Chinese medicine health food with sleep improvement function, on the ITI of human body. Three ITI features were indexes for this trial. The results showed that the sleep improving function of Shengan capsule could be reflected objectively by ITI. The relative efficacy rate was 87.5% for the trial group and 25.0% for the control group, there was significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.0001). Since the features are taken from people in waking but not sleeping state, the clinical application of ITI is convenient and there are broad prospects for ITI in sleep study.