Objective To observe the difference in clinical efficacy of acupuncture with strong and weak stimulation in the treatment of insomnia with heart and spleen deficiency. Methods A total of 66 insomnia patients with heart and spleen deficiency were randomly divided into a strong stimulation group and a weak stimulation group

with 33 cases in each group. Sishencong（EX-HN1）

Shenmen（HT7

bilateral）

Sanyinjiao（SP6

bilateral）

Shenmai（BL62

bilateral）

Zhaohai（KI6

bilateral）

Xinshu（BL15

bilateral）

and Pishu（BL20

bilateral）. In the strong stimulation group

needle of 0.25 mm×40 mm was used for deep stimulation

twisting supplementing method

twist angle 90°-180°

frequency 60-90 times per minute

20 seconds for each acupoint

and twisting manipulation once every 10 seconds during needle retention. In the weak stimulation group

0.18 mm×40 mm needle shallow puncture was given

twisting supplementing method

twisting angle <90°

frequency <60 times per minute

10 seconds for each acupoint

no needling during the retention period. The patients in both groups were treated once every other day for 4 weeks and were followed up for 1 month. Sleeping time

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale（PSQI） score

self-made Chinese medicine syndrome scale score

self-assessment anxiety scale（SAS） score

self-assessment depression scale（SDS） of both groups of patients before and after treatment and during follow-up were compared and clinical efficacy was determined. Results Three cases in the strong stimulation group and two cases in the weak stimulation group fell off

and 1 case was eliminated. Finally

30 cases were included in the statistics for both groups. The total effective rate of the clinical efficacy of the weak stimulation group was 86.7%

that of the strong stimulation group was 76.7%

the former was higher than the latter（P<0.05）. After treatment and during follow-up in both groups

the sleeping time was longer than that in this group before treatment. PSQI score

self-made Chinese medicine syndrome scale score

SAS score and SDS score decreased（P<0.05）. The sleeping time of the weak stimulation group was significantly longer than that of the strong stimulation group after treatment and during follow-up. PSQI score

self-made Chinese medicine syndrome scale score

SAS score

and SDS score of the weak stimulation group were lower than those of the strong stimulation group（P<0.05）. Conclusion Acupuncture with both strong and weak stimulation can be effective in treating insomnia patients with heart and spleen deficiency

and it is better to treat with acupuncture of weak stimulation.