Effects of progressive muscle relaxation on anxiety and sleep quality in patients with COVID-19.

The study was small and single-centre, so it may not apply to other hospitals, outpatient settings, or patients with much more severe illness. Randomisation is described only as dividing patients into groups with intervention order by bed, and allocation concealment and blinding are not described. The intervention included progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, staff guidance, and daily practice time, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. Outcomes were self-reported immediately after five days, so expectations and short-term attention effects cannot be excluded, and durability is not shown. Verbal informed consent was used because of infectivity, which may affect how participants understood and reported the intervention. The control group received routine care without an active comparison, so differences could reflect contact with staff or time spent practising rather than relaxation alone. Confidence intervals and detailed randomisation methods are not reported.

The authors declared no competing interests. No funding source is stated in the supplied text.

Do not conclude that progressive muscle relaxation alone is proven to treat anxiety or sleep problems in COVID-19. The trial was small, no blinding was described, and the relaxation group also received deep breathing, staff guidance, and daily practice time, so the effect of the muscle relaxation component alone cannot be separated.