effect of benson relaxation and warm foot bath on sleep quality in acute coronary syndrome patients

Aims: sleep disorders are common in acute coronary syndrome. benson relaxation techniques, warm foot baths, and a combination of these two may be helpful in improving the sleep quality of patients. therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of the combination of benson relaxation and warm foot baths on the sleep quality of patients with acute coronary syndrome.materials & methods: this randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in the winter of 2018 and spring of 2019 on 64 patients with acute coronary syndrome hospitalized in the icu of shahid rajaee hospital, gachsaran, iran. the patients were randomly allocated into four groups: benson relaxation (16 patients), warm foot bath (16 patients), a combination of relaxation and foot bath (16 patients), and a control group (16 patients). each intervention group received the intervention once every night (nights 2, 3, and 4) before bedtime in the hospital. the patients’ sleep quality was assessed by completing the st. mary’s hospital sleep questionnaire (smhsq) before (day 1) and after the intervention (in the morning of days 3, 4, and 5). the data were analyzed using spss 16 software, employing the chi-square, kruskal-wallis, and bonferroni post hoc statistical tests.findings: sixty-four patients, including 40 males (62.5%) and 24 females (37.5%), with a mean age of 54.24±8.16 years, participated in this study. on night 4, a statistically significant difference was observed in each of the intervention groups, including warm foot bath (p=0.004), benson relaxation (p=0.001), and the combination group (p=0.007), compared to the control group. however, no significant difference was indicated between the combination group and any of the individual intervention groups (p>0.05).conclusion: benson relaxation techniques, warm foot baths, and their combination equally improve sleep quality in patients with acute coronary syndrome.