ARGUMENT167 argu感觉已经定型了~

leafdropsUID??2251505

TOPIC: ARGUMENT167 - A folk remedy* for insomnia, the scent in lavender flowers, has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. During the second week, the volunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. This shows that over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia.
*A folk remedy is usually a plant-based form of treatment common to traditional forms of medicine, ones that developed before the advent of modern medical services and technology.

In this argument the author asserts that the folk remedy for insomnia has been proved effective in a recent study. In this study the author introduce the sleeping conditions of 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia using this folk remedy improved significantly. Although the conclusion seems to be well reasoned at first glance, some critical flaws render it problematic.

The threshold problem is that the arguer does not give us the exact definition of insomnia. We do not know whether insomnia has the relationship with the time people sleep and the feeling of people wakened in the next day. As generally acknowledged, the insomnia is mainly due to the difficulty of people's getting asleep. If so, the research is meaningless for it does not show us whether these volunteers sleep more quickly than ever before. What it shows is just the fact that the volunteers sleep more soundly and feel less weak. Thus, without the definition of insomnia, we can hardly get the conclusion that the folk remedy is useful in treating this chronic illness.

Another flaw in this argument is that the research is lack of control group to demonstrate the effect of this folk remedy. A scientific research should set up a control group under the same condition with the only difference of lacking the treatment, in order to demonstrate that it is the remedy that cures insomnia. However, this research does not show us the control group and it is entirely possible that the result is due to other factors rather than the remedy. Maybe in the research the emotions of volunteers became smoother and less anxious than the beginning, thus leading to the result of better sleep at last. So the research can hardly show us that the remedy is effective in curing insomnia.

Last but not least, the sample and lasting time of the research is rather limited, making the result doubtful. 30 volunteers can not represent all patients of insomnia in that the factors attributed to this illness vary a lot, from physical reasons to psychological reasons. Thus only 30 volunteers' improvement in sleeping quality can not ensure the remedy can cures most kinds of insomnia. Also three weeks is to short for us to get to the conclusion. For the research we can see, the conditions of the volunteers change from time to time. Possibilities do exist that in the forth week it becomes even harder for them to sleep. So the conclusion of the research is hasty and open to doubt.

In sum, the argument is not well supported. To strengthen the argument, the author must give the exact definition of insomnia. Also the research to demonstrate the effect of the remedy must be improve to be more scientific and convincing.

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